Sovereign Hope (30 page)

He said I had
potential, and I was quite proud at his words despite their macabre
connotation. Attaining a compliment from Cliff was no easy task. He
was tall and slender with a mop of curly brown hair and ice blue
eyes that were as cold as his blade. He was scary as all hell. I
was more than a little intimidated by him when we first met, and
not a lot had changed since.

Daniel hadn’t
been back to the hangar once. Every time another person walked
through the doorway into the increasingly crowded space, my heart
leapt in my chest, hoping that it would be him. It never was. No
one had seen him or heard from him.

It took a long
time after he’d disappeared before I came to the realization that
now wasn’t the time to mope and feel sorry for myself. Beatty
reminded me of it constantly. Now was the time to watch and learn
and fight. He’d knocked me down yet again, winding me, when he
began the morning’s tirade.

“
Where was your block, Your Highness?” he asked, bawdy and
mocking. I slumped back on the ground, already exhausted. He
towered over me and tutted with a familiar disappointment. “If an
Immundus came at you, then you may as well skip the embarrassing
fumble and just lay down for him, too. Let him slit your throat and
have done with it.” The deep rumble of his voice rebounded around
the hangar, and I cringed. Everyone would be hearing how hopeless I
was again today.

“
I
did
block.”

“
You blocked my blow with your stomach, then, Highness. That’s
not a very smart fighting tactic.” He laughed, deep and low, and a
few stifled titters emanated from the small group that had gathered
to watch my ineptitude. I wished this lesson would go quicker so I
could fight with Cliff instead. At least he didn’t find it quite so
funny when I ended up on the floor.

“
Do you need a break, Highness?”

“
No. And stop calling me
Highness.
”

Beatty stooped
into a low bow with a look of mischief on his face. “As it pleases
you, Highness”

I growled,
pulling myself up from the ground with a graceless heave, and cut
him a dirty look. The nickname had come out of nowhere. It grated,
and the more I allowed Beatty to see that, the more he used it.

“
Well, Highness, if
looks
could kill then we would be in business!” He
roared with laughter. I rolled my eyes when I noticed Tess on the
sidelines, trying to cover a smirk. She shrugged apologetically
when she realized she had been caught, and I huffed, turning my
attention back to Beatty.

He was too
busy winking and pretending to scowl ferociously at his friends to
notice me as I lunged forward and planted my foot behind him,
locking my hip against his massive frame. I twisted my body around
so that he moved with me. To my surprise, I actually managed to
pivot the great man off his feet, and suddenly he was falling
backwards. He landed with a ground shaking crash on the mat.
Everyone went silent. Beatty lay on his back, blinking rapid-fire.
I panicked, awaiting his wrath. Instead he laughed.

“
My compliments, Highness. Didn’t think you had it in
you.”

I sighed with
relief and accepted the hand he held up for assistance, but was of
absolutely no use when I tried to heave him up. This only made him
laugh even harder. I gave up and let him roll on the floor, red
faced, with tears streaming down his face. I looked to Tess for
help but saw that Agatha and Oliver had joined her and they were
watching the scene play out for themselves. Oliver’s eyes danced
with mirth, but Agatha remained stony-faced.

She was the
one who suggested I learn to fight, even though she knew Daniel
wouldn’t like it, and it appeared that we weren’t taking the lesson
seriously enough for her liking. I reddened and dropped the smile
playing on my own lips as I made my way over to them.

“
Enjoying your lesson?” Agatha asked.

“
Sorry, Agatha. I am paying attention, I swear. Beatty says
I’m improving every day.”

Agatha nodded
distractedly, her eyes flicking towards the man, who had now risen
to his feet.

“
Don’t worry. I’m pretty confident I could handle myself
against an Immundus.”

“
You think so?” she asked. “An Immundus is nothing more than a
foot soldier, but they’re well-trained foot soldiers who have years
of combat training. I don’t mean to be unkind, Farley, but I would
be very surprised if you
could
beat one. That’s not really the issue, though,
because there’s never just
one
of them. There’d be four or five at
least.”

I blanched at
her words, knowing she was right. I was kidding myself if I thought
I was ready. Agatha’s expression softened a little.

“
I’m not trying to scare you. Just prepare you. Maybe this is
the wrong thing to do. No amount of training is going to help you
if we ever manage to get in front of your father or the other
Immortals.”

I hadn’t even
thought about that. Elliott was bad enough in a dream. He probably
wasn’t any more accommodating in real life. Oliver bristled at the
mention of him, and I wondered whether he was curious about our
father at all. He cleared his throat and shifted uneasily behind
Agatha before breaking his silence.

“
What am I going to be doing when World War Three is going
down? I know how to fight. I could help.”

Tess was already shaking her head when Agatha shut him down.
“You’re the biggest bargaining chip we’ve ever had. We have to keep
you somewhere safe. If anything goes wrong, then we can protect
you. Have you hidden. If they capture you, then they
will
make you do what
they want.”

Tess looked
relieved, but Oliver? He wasn’t happy at all. The argument clearly
wasn’t over.

“
Your Highness!” Beatty bellowed from the crash mat where I
had left him. “Shall I take your absence as an admission of
defeat?”

I scowled and
turned from the others. I had to show Agatha that I was capable.
Beatty laughed as I charged at him, and then we were dancing
again.

CHAPTER THIRTY

The Promise of Death

The light from
the moon was bright tonight. I hunkered down in the driver’s seat
of the Charger, trying to stay out of sight. I preferred nights
where the darkness was so complete you couldn’t see your own hand
in front of your face. I had better night vision than any Immundus,
or Immortal, for that matter. Having the upper hand tonight would
be very convenient.

The Dodge was
shot to all hell. The Reavers’ men would know it by sight but I
didn’t have it in me to get rid of her. We’d been together for
thirty years and I’d fixed her up from worse. If anyone noticed me,
I’d just have to deal with them and hope reinforcements didn’t
show.

There were
over a hundred different access points into the fastness that I
knew of, spanning a circumference of LA that covered at least sixty
miles. Some were more popular than others. I’d spent the last week
rotating between back alleys in the heart of the city to deserted
gas stations in the sticks, but had very little luck. There was
less movement than usual, and everyone I picked up claimed they
knew nothing of the Reavers’ plans. I could see the fear in their
eyes, though, and knew they were lying. They were more afraid of
what Elliot would do to them alive than the clean death I would
deal them.

Aldan would
have known how to make them talk, how to persuade them it was in
their best interests, but I couldn’t think about what the old man
might have done. Even remembering Aldan sent a searing hot bolt of
pain through my ribcage. I’d tried to lock away all the hurt of
losing him, but it was useless. My treasure chest of pain was
already brimming over with memories of Jamie. Both my brother and
Aldan just wouldn’t fit in at the same time.

The past month
had been bad. The impact of losing my mentor would hit me when I
least expected it, tearing me apart. I blacked out a lot of it. The
last time it had happened, I’d been in the middle of threatening a
guard tied to a chair. The next thing I knew every stick of
furniture in the motel room was destroyed and the guard had my
knife buried hilt-deep in his thigh and was pleading for his life.
Apparently my fits of rage were terrifying displays. It didn’t take
long for that particular guard, the only one to talk, to crumble.
Before he’d died, he told me Elliot wasn’t coming into the city
these days.

I could only
guess what the evil monster was up to—sticking to the Tower no
doubt, gathering his minions around him, waiting to strike. It
would only be a matter of time.

The seal above
my heart itched, the one I knew Farley had been studying
oh-so-covertly that night in the hangar, and I gave a wry smile.
I’d worn the seal for over a hundred years. I’d never thought about
it as anything more than a depiction of the prophecy, but now I
knew it was so much more. I felt the stirrings and let my mind
drift momentarily, listening to the soft whispering of the dormant
thing inside me agreeing. It had a thousand voices but they always
said the same thing, so it was hard to decide whether it was one or
many. Either way, it knew what the seal meant, too.

Me. And
her.

Getting lost
in that voice was so easy. I forcefully dragged my attention back
to the run-down, abandoned fire station. Clouds rolled heavily
across the sky and I breathed a sigh of relief as the night closed
in. I sat forward, sensing movement across the road. A large,
black, windowless truck had been parked outside the building for
the last twenty minutes. Its engine was idling, and I couldn’t
shake the feeling that this was something worth investigating. I
was right.

The old roller
shutter at the front of the fire station began to inch its way up.
It jarred on its tracks, grinding on the rust, stiff from disuse.
It halted altogether for a second, and then a pair of huge hands
appeared from underneath, forcing it up in one swift movement to
reveal three large men. The silver of their eyes reflected in the
dark, paler than the moon and perfectly round, like the outline of
an eclipse. None of their faces were familiar.

The men made
their way to the truck, and two of them got in the front cab, while
the other opened up the rear doors and disappeared back into the
fire station. The truck’s lights came on, and I slouched down,
counting down the seconds until they noticed the car on the other
side of the street.

Ten seconds
passed by, and then another ten, and the two men remained in the
cab of the truck. Suspicion coursed through my veins. The thing
inside me sparked with anticipation, waiting and ready to leap into
action. I felt it in every part of my body: something wasn’t
right.

A flash of
white was suddenly visible from inside the fire station. It grew in
size until the third Immundus came back into view. He pulled the
small frame of a woman behind him. Her thin white dress hung off
her emaciated frame, and her shoulder blades protruded sickeningly,
heightened by the fact that her hands were bound behind her back. A
hessian bag covered her head, and her feet were bare against the
shattered glass that glinted prettily on the sidewalk. She stumbled
forward, tripping into the back of the hulking Immundus. He jerked
her forcefully by the arm, causing her to lose her balance even
further. He snarled at her under his breath, and I knew there was
nothing good in store for the poor woman. Something had to be
done.

The energy
inside me came alive, and I was comforted by the power of it
pulsing through my body. There was no doubt I could take all three
of them, but I wasn’t stupid enough to take that fact for
granted.

I waited until
the woman was lifted into the back of the van before I got out of
the car. The Immundus didn’t notice me until I was right on top of
him, and his surprised swing flew through thin air as I stepped
neatly out of the way.

The Immundus
came forward and lunged again, this time producing a large Bowie
knife from inside his jacket. The metal sang as it sliced through
the air towards my throat. I darted back to avoid the blade and
blocked up, throwing the Immundus’ arm wide, then delivered a blow
to the man’s left shoulder, knocking him off balance.

I heard a
small, guttural cry from the woman in the back of the van and took
a step towards the doors, but the Immundus recovered quicker than I
anticipated. He struck me on the temple and suddenly my head was
ringing. I recovered myself and faced the man again, concentrating
this time, studying the way he moved.

The man was
big and heavy, too keen for a quick win. The next time he came
forward, I was prepared. The Immundus swiped the blade towards him,
and I feinted to the left, blocking my arm up again. This time I
twisted the man’s arm back on itself in a swift move that plunged
the blade straight down into his own throat. Metal dragged over
bone when it made contact, and the Immundus spluttered as he sank
to his knees, wide-eyed in disbelief. The man pulled the blade from
his neck and it clattered to the floor. I didn’t waste time
watching him choke on his own blood.

I swung round
and made for the van door, but predictably the two Immundus in the
cab had come to join the fight. The power inside me fluctuated
impatiently. This was taking too long. I lowered the wall that kept
the huge power at bay and let it course through my body until it
blistered inside every fiber of my being. Then I let it go.