Taste (Ava Delaney #5) (18 page)

Peter returned soon afterward, that determined look back on his face.

“We need to talk,” I said, but Gabe interfered.

“We need to see the Council,” he insisted.

Peter glanced at him, ready to bark back, but then he deflated and nodded. “Go. We’ll talk later or in the morning.”

We briefly touched fingers as Gabe led me away. I looked back over my shoulder, but Peter wasn’t watching me leave, and my heart cracked a little.

I was quiet in Gabe’s car as he drove me to the headquarters. I didn’t want to be there, didn’t want to be near anyone who had even the slightest chance of being the one person we were up against when the BVA went away.

“No need to be nervous.”

I glanced at Gabe before realising my knee was jumping up and down. “Not nervous. Annoyed.”

“That might be worse,” he teased.

“What the hell do they want with me anyway? We all know we hate each other. Why can’t they leave me out of their stupid meetings?”

He sighed. “It’s on days like this that I truly realise how young you are, Ava. Stop acting like a sulky teenager for five minutes and tell me what’s really bothering you.”

“It’d take more than five minutes.” But I grinned at him.

“He might not leave,” Gabe said. “Whatever he thought this morning, you are the child’s safest option. Who is going to fight harder for him than you? But if he leaves, I can’t protect either of them. You understand? The deal can’t carry on as is.”

“I know.” I resisted the urge to kick something. “He’s right to leave. I
have
brought trouble. I don’t see where it ends. As soon as I get close to having room to breathe, something bigger comes along. Everything seems like the worst thing that could happen, and then, whoops, here comes something with even greater potential to be monumentally life-changing.”

“Nothing continues forever. And really, you’re usually the one saying it’s urgent and a huge deal. Your concerns are mostly petty.”

I gazed at him in disbelief.

He cocked his head. “Granted, this war we seem to be in is a pretty big deal.”

“How are we doing? How did the rest of the country do?”

“While you were sleeping?” he said. “You seem tired a lot lately.”

“Not eating enough, probably.”

“Well, it didn’t go too badly. Given the circumstances, anyway. In fact, it probably went a lot better than either the Council or the BVA expected.” He smirked. “That showed them.”

“Who’s a teen now? So on a scale of one to ten, how pissed are they that I blabbed to the entire country?”

“It wasn’t just you,” he said. “You started the ball rolling, of course, so that puts you in their crosshairs. But there’s been a surprising amount of others revealing themselves to the people around them. In fact, a certain brothel of succubi have reportedly been making a fortune since last night, once they began advertising the truth.”

“Typical.”

“You’re safe today,” he said, pulling in at last. “But don’t expect that to continue on for too long afterward.”

We got out, me trailing behind him as we walked up to a barn. Two Guardians stood outside, one of them raising a brow at the sight of me, but they let us pass. Gabe used an old-fashioned key to open the door. We moved in a downward spiral through repetitive white hallways.

“They’re really hiding out,” I commented as we went through yet another door only to walk down another hallway.

“Fear,” he replied.

“You could hide out with them,” I said.

“And miss everything?”

Something told me that was the exact thing he would have done if I hadn’t tricked him into a deal with me. But I hadn’t expected so much devotion to the cause, and I wondered if he might be secretly enjoying himself. “I think people will like you better for this,” I said coyly.

He made a noncommittal sound, but I saw the barest smile curve his lips.

We finally found the right meeting room, and I hoped Gabe planned on leading me back out of there before dark. Everyone’s eyes trained on me when we entered the room, and I noted the varying reactions.

Eddie had a small smile on his face, Marina didn’t seem at all affected by the attacks, and Elathan looked curious. Aiden and Erossi appeared angry, Koda calm, and Fionnuala looked even more hateful than usual. I was surprised to see all of the Council members and Consultants—except Reuben. His absence was a reminder that nobody could be trusted.

Gabe gestured for me to take a seat to his right at the circular table, with Eddie to my right. Fionnuala sat directly across from me, and her eyes bored into me as if she thought they could physically stop my heart.

Erossi sneered. “So it finally arrived.”

I couldn’t wait to get rid of him. “Let’s skip the crap and get to the point for a change,” I snapped, ignoring Gabe’s sigh. “What do you want?”

“Watch your words,” Erossi said.

“Why? Everyone knows you’re all too cowardly to do anything, hiding away down here while the rest of the country fights for their lives.” I rose to my feet, unable to stop my voice from rising.

Erossi stood too, leaning over the table to glare at me. “You haven’t seen a thing yet.”

“I’m terrified. Truly. Is that what you wanted me here for? Can I go now? In case you haven’t heard, I have people to help protect. A war to fight.”

“Oh, sit down. Both of you,” Koda said wearily. He didn’t look well, but he hadn’t deteriorated so badly that I would think his death was as imminent as Lucia had shown me recently. I tried to work out that puzzle as I took my seat.

Erossi hesitated for a couple of seconds before sitting down. I tried not to laugh. It probably wouldn’t be appropriate, and Gabe was already nudging me under the table.

“Ava, we saw what you did last night,” Koda said, “or at least some of it. We’re glad you were able to control the beast situation, but did you really have to go to the media in such a way? There are better ways to deal with that sort of thing.” His voice was calm, but his expression didn’t look particularly unhappy.

“Yes. Yes, I did. You lot weren’t doing anything to help. What was I supposed to do? Walk away and let them all die? Pretend like nothing weird was happening?”

“That’s exactly what you should have done!” Fionnuala shrieked, and my hair went static. Thunder rumbled in the distance, but I couldn’t let that intimidate me.

“Okay, Team Stupid, you know that when the beasts are done with the humans you’ll be next, right? The only way, and I really mean the
only
way, we can protect ourselves from the BVA is if the entire country is prepared to fight back. And guess what? Now they are. And an even bigger guess what? Now we’re winning.” I gazed at their blank faces, then muttered, “Fuckwits,” and sat back down.

“She’s right. Forget about the words she uses and listen to her point,” Gabe said. “We destroyed a large number of beasts.
Humans
managed to take down some of the beasts. Do you not recall the destruction a single one of these creatures caused us? If this was allowed to get out of hand, we might never recover.”

Fionnuala looked disgusted, but Koda nodded enthusiastically. “It has been interesting to see the reaction,” he said. He looked at me. “I can see why you have respect for the humans now. They fought hard, if what I’ve been hearing is true.”

“It wasn’t just the humans!” Fionnuala lost her temper yet again. The room chilled, and I waited for the real sticking point to come out. “She was with
rebels
. People we need to either arrest or put in captivity.”

“Was Esther harmed?” Aiden asked abruptly, surprising me.

I stared at him, trying to figure out his angle. “She’s fine. She fought hard. She saved a lot of people from death last night.”

He nodded, his eyes grateful, although that simmering anger still rolled from him. No shadows though, and I couldn’t understand that. How could he and Esther be so very different? The shifter alpha confused me almost as much as Gabe did.

“They will hit back harder next time,” Elathan said. “They won’t give up after one night of small battles.”

“That’s true,” I said, “which is why I need to get back out there.”

“We need you to keep fighting,” Koda said.

“That’s what I’m trying to do.”

“We need you to do it in our name and to coordinate with our warriors. If last night was the vampires trying to figure out our defences, then we are in for a world of trouble.”

I exchanged a glance with Gabe who shrugged.

“As you said, Ava, we need to work together,” Eddie said. “You could use more warriors on your side.”

“Only if they’re useful. I mean, if they’re hanging around here to guard people who have the power to defend themselves, then they might as well be hanging upside down from a tree for all the use they’ll be to me. We need to get out there, and not just fight, but
slaughter
these things. We need to be
respected
by the vampires. They have Gideon and Reuben on their side, and—”

“We don’t know that for sure,” Erossi interrupted.

I continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “—that means they know possible weak points, entry points, places you neglect or are desperate to protect.”

“This is going to be tougher than any of us expect,” Gabe said. “They will send everything our way just to overwhelm us. They know we can handle a certain amount of problems. But multiply that by a factor of a hundred, and who knows?”

“We need to use the children,” Erossi said.

“Are you fucking crazy?” I exclaimed. “Children? Against monsters?”

“They
are
powerful,” Eddie murmured.

“You’ll seriously use
children
as shields? There has to be another way. How many Guardians are there? How many volunteers can we round up? How many humans will get involved? There has to be an alternative. Those children need to be protected, not
used
.”

“We need to release the hounds,” Gabe said, a weird smile on his face. “Right, Fionnuala?”

She glanced from one face to another.

“There are none,” Elathan said. “They were destroyed, were they not?”

Fionnuala licked her lips. “There are some. Enough to destroy an army? Probably not. But enough to make a difference if we should need them.”

“Enough what?” I asked, completely confused. The only hounds that came to mind were hellhounds, but surely they didn’t mean that. Although a gang of hellhounds on our side would come in very handy if Val was anything to go by.

“We’re talking about the werewolves,” Gabe said. “The fae controlled the werewolf population in the past to cut down the vampire population. It was a long time ago, and the werewolves were supposed to be destroyed, but the fae kept some hidden.”

“I’ve heard the rumours, but I thought they were wiped out. So… what? They’re shifters?”

“They’re closer to the beasts than to shifters,” Aiden said, sounding insulted.

“Come,” Fionnuala said, getting to her feet. “It’s time to visit the werewolves and their keeper.”

Chapter Fifteen

A thrill of nerves ran under my skin as Gabe laid his hand on my lower back to guide me out of the room.

“You’re going to want to see this,” he whispered.

“I’m actually shaking,” I responded. “Is this as dangerous as it feels?”

“Depends how on the ball the keeper is.”

“Who’s the keeper?”

“I have my suspicions. We’ll soon see.”

Leading the way, Fionnuala swept down a white hallway. Halfway down, she stopped abruptly and laid her hands on a wall. A portion of it pushed aside, revealing a tunnel.

“You kept them
here
?” Erossi sounded horrified.

My eyes widened when Fionnuala stepped inside the tunnel, torches on the sides lighting up as she passed. The tunnel had been hollowed out from rock and earth, but there was no apparent method of stopping the whole thing from collapsing on top of us. A trickle of sweat rolled down my back as we followed her into the winding tunnel. The path grew smaller and more confined. I didn’t like enclosed spaces, and I found it hard to breathe.

“Always a treat seeing you people,” I said just to make a sound other than boots scuffing on dirt and stone.

Gabe squeezed my shoulder, and a sudden flare from a torch almost burned us both.

“Bitch,” I muttered.

We walked for another fifteen minutes before a howl had everyone slowing to a stop. I bumped into Aiden ahead of me, and he glared back at me, his eyes shining yellow in the low light.

“Keep walking,” I hissed, but I turned to make a face at Gabe. That howl had been
wild
.

Finally, we came to a massive, solid iron door that resembled what I’d expect to see covering a giant safe. Fionnuala turned the wheel, and the door opened slowly. The new passage led into what looked like an underground prison. We entered and strode down a narrow walkway lined with iron-barred cells, and I sucked in a breath at the state of the naked people the cages contained. The men were all alone, but many of the women had a child with them.

They stared at us, the children hiding behind their mothers and peeking out from behind bare legs. The men jumped at the cage bars, feigning attacks. Aiden rolled his shoulders, his heartbeat racing.

We kept moving, and the space grew wider. A tall figure came out of the darkness, and my pulse sped up, but Fionnuala reached out to him, and I realised she knew him.

She touched his arm affectionately, but when the light hit his face, I stumbled, and only Gabe catching me stopped me from keeling over. I knew his face. Knew it well. His long black hair was streaked with platinum, but he looked almost exactly like Lorcan. I knew the fae didn’t show their age, but this fae and Lorcan could have been brothers. Gabe shook his head at me, a silent message not to reveal anything, but even I wasn’t that stupid.

This
was the keeper of werewolves?

“He is their trainer, their keeper, and their caretaker,” Fionnuala was saying. “He controls them, and they will never go against him.”

I caught sight of a heavy whip strapped to his belt. “Hold on a second,” I said. “Are you breeding them?”