Taunt (10 page)

Two Guardians led
me back into the stark white hallways that led downward. They never
spoke, but their fingers pinched into my arms as though they hated
me. I was lost within minutes; even if I managed to break free of
the Guardians, I would probably end up running through white
corridors for the rest of my life.

A loud siren
screeched, and it sounded as if all hell had broken loose. The
Guardians threw me onto the ground as a loud bang in the distance
rocked the walls. My head smacked against the floor; I lay where I
fell, weighed down by two large men who pretty much knelt on my
back.

They muttered to
each other rapidly in an language I had never heard, but I could
sense their fear. They stank of it. I had no idea what was going
on, but they seemed to realise the alarms weren’t anything to do
with me and finally eased off a bit.

“
Yeah,
thanks for that,” I snapped, as they pulled me to my feet. The men
pushed me against the wall and kept me pinned there until the
lights went out. The dark was claustrophobic, suffocating. There
was no light at all, only myself and two strangers in a
hallway.

One of the
Guardians had a small torch and managed to provide a tiny light.
“Come,” he said. “This way.”

They led me
through a doorway I couldn’t even see and left me alone in the
dark. I heard them lock the door behind them. I couldn’t see a
thing, so I inched my way around the room as carefully as possible
and found a chair.

The lights stayed
out but, in the distance, I heard shouts. After a while, I heard
the sound of footsteps running on the other side of the door. I
eventually dozed off in the chair. I awoke some time later with a
sore neck and a rumbling stomach.

As soon as the
door opened, I jumped to my feet. Some tired-looking Guardians led
me back to the cell, passing by white walls that now had cracks
running through them.

“
Redecorating?” I quipped, but the group ignored me.

The floor was
covered in dust and plaster. Leah’s cell was conspicuously empty,
and her tag lay bent apart on the floor of her cell.

I laughed out
loud. “Wow, did the kid break out? Some Guardians you lot
are.”

One of the
Guardians growled in my ear and grabbed me by the scruff of the
neck. He threw me onto the bed and stormed off. The remaining three
double-checked all of the cells. The rest of the inmates were
sleeping as usual; they’d probably slept through
everything.

I lay on the bed
and waited, only to laugh again at the idea of Leah managing to not
only escape, but to find her way out of the maze. No wonder she had
been restless and agitated.

A part of me was
sad. I was totally alone without her, even though we had exchanged
few words. The next time food was dropped, I didn’t eat, although I
felt half-starved. I banked on Eddie returning with some real
food.

I wondered about
Leah. It was better than thinking about my own problems, but I
couldn’t avoid them forever. My stomach hurt, and I almost
regretted not drinking blood like Eddie had advised. Once again, I
was out of my league. I couldn’t see a way out. I didn’t know their
laws; I didn’t even know what I was being charged with.

I sorely
regretted not slapping Becca for her part in this. The more I
thought about it, the more convinced I became that I had been set
up for something.

I understood why
Gideon would have it in for me, although when I had been at
Maximus’s mansion, it hadn’t seemed like his coven members were
particularly loyal. Daimhín couldn’t seem to make up her mind about
me.

I could defend
myself against a lot of things, but my own heritage wasn’t
something I could easily explain away. After all, I knew little
about it myself.

My grandmother
had told me the bare minimum, that my mother had been pregnant when
she and my father were attacked. He died, but she had managed to
make it to my grandmother’s house. She gave birth to me and died
soon after explaining to my grandmother that I needed to be hidden,
for both our sakes.

I had no birth
certificate, not a real one anyway, and I’d spent most of my life
pretending I was normal. I didn’t know exactly what I was, why I
was created and what it meant for my future.

For the first
time, I really regretted my grandmother’s relative silence
regarding my creation. She told me the same few sentences anytime I
asked, but she never went into details. I hadn’t liked to push her
on something that obviously gave her pain.

But I had a lot
of questions; like how my mother knew exactly what would happen to
me, how she knew I would be different and need protecting. The
weirdest part was how my grandmother was persuaded to believe her,
to hide me away, stay away from hospitals and, most important of
all, take part in illegal activity by procuring a fake birth
certificate to get me into school.

Remembering what
Eddie had said about having a conversation with Nancy, I sat up
straight on the bed. Now that I had time to think about it, he had
sounded like there was something I needed to hear.

Before I could
begin to wrap my head around the possibilities, some Guardians
returned, this time with a new prisoner. A small man was carried
in, kicking and screaming, his dark curls sticking to his forehead.
I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but the faces of the
Guardians were blank, completely devoid of emotion.

The man was
already tagged, and he tore at it frantically. When the Guardians
stopped moving outside an empty cell at the end of the room, the
prisoner changed tactics and clung to the nearest Guardian instead.
“I won’t!” he screamed. The terror in his voice sent shivers down
my spine. One of the Guardians peeled the man off his colleague,
carried the prisoner inside the cell, and pinned him to the
bed.

The man stopped
squirming and lay there. I could hear his panting clearly.
Satisfied, the Guardian turned to leave the cell, but the man beat
him to it and tried to run. He was struck over the head by one of
the Guardians, and they dragged him by the feet back into the cell.
He clawed at the ground, his eyes wide with fear. I stood on my bed
trying to see what they would do.

They gathered
around him, punching and kicking as he screamed out in pain. I
couldn’t stand it.

“
Stop
it!” I yelled, and they all turned around to look at me. The man,
his face swollen and bloody, caught my gaze and nodded. Then he
ripped open his sleeve with his teeth and put something into his
mouth before the Guardians could stop him.

I watched as his
body convulsed, and blood poured from his eyes and ears. He
collapsed to the ground, and the Guardians all left the cell. I
fell off the bed in shock. As the Circle passed my cell, I heard
one of them mutter something about a cleanup crew.

For the first
time, I truly feared the Council.

I didn’t eat at
all on the day of the hearing. I wasn’t just nervous; I had gotten
myself into a knot of twisted anger and hate at the unfairness of
it all. I had been left to mull things over for too long, and that
time had given me an embittered perspective.

Before the
hearing, I was given a cream linen dress and told to wear it with
nothing on my feet or in my hair. I had to walk to the hearing
barefooted, my hair swinging around my face. In the dark, they led
me to an outside structure that resembled a three-sided
marquee.

It was so good to
be outside, to feel fresh air on my skin; I almost forgot to be
afraid. The wind whipped around my ankles as we crossed the grass
but, under the marquis, it was warm, well-lit, and protected—no
wind, no cold, nothing except still air and eyes filled with
animosity.

There were few
people at the hearing. The Guardians led me to a ring of scorched
earth in the centre of the marquis.

“
What’s this about?” I asked, not expecting an answer, which
was lucky, because I didn’t get one. The Guardians pushed me into
the circle then quickly retreated. I flinched as a ring of flames
lit up around me. Eddie had told me not to run, as if he had sensed
me mentally preparing for the worst possible outcomes. Now I
couldn’t fight my way out without getting burned. Great.

A number of
people entered the structure Once again, I tried to use my other
senses, but I couldn’t let myself go; there was still some sort of
block. The suffocating frustration made me panic, and I resorted to
counting rapidly in my head.

I watched Eddie
arrive and hoped he would stand next to me and tell me what was
happening. He stopped to speak with a stocky woman and a tall,
muscular, chocolate-skinned man. Two other men appeared to be
listening to the conversation, although they stood apart, and I
realised I was missing a heartbeat. One of the men looked ancient,
older than Daimhín even, his dried-out skin and lack of pulse
declaring him a vampire. I couldn’t make myself look at the other
man; my skin crawled, but I had no idea why.

All four
strangers sat together in a row of chairs to my right. Eddie
approached me briefly, but only to tell me to be quiet and let him
talk. I fidgeted with the tag on my arm until a female Guardian
standing behind me hissed for me to stop.

A few minutes
later, a group of vampires stormed in like they owned the place. I
glared at the blond vampire who had helped torture me along with
Maximus, sending seething hatred in his direction. By the way the
others fawned over him, I guessed he was Gideon.

Gideon grinned at
me while the others heckled and laughed. Bristling, I stared back
at them, daring them to come closer. I badly wanted an excuse to
fight.

“
Forget about them, they’re just trying to get a rise out of
you.” This time the Guardian’s voice was softer.

I looked around
to see that she was a dark-skinned woman with almond-shaped eyes
and corkscrew curls pinned back into a loose bun. “The Council will
be here shortly,” she informed me, then looked away. Of all of the
Guardians I had come across over the last couple of days, she was
the only one who had voluntarily spoken to me.

Before long, a
number of Guardians led four people over to my left.

“
Here’s the Council now,” said the woman behind me. My mouth
dropped open as I realised one of them was Gabe. He was part of the
Council?

Gabe glanced at
me as he passed, but his eyes were blank and his face was
expressionless. He was followed closely by a haughty-looking man
with blond hair and bluish lips. I had no idea what he could
be.

“
That’s Gabe and Erossi,” the female Guardian whispered. “The
other two are the important ones, Fionnuala and Koda. Stay quiet
unless they ask you to speak, and you’ll be okay.”

An old man who
looked almost transparent passed by next. He smiled at me, but his
eyes faded in and out of colour so much that I felt dizzy. A woman,
Fionnuala, I assumed, followed him. Tall and slim, she held the
attention of the room. I couldn’t get a read off her either. I was
surprised at how dependant I’d grown on that extra sense and how
frustrating it was to not be able to use it. Gabe and Erossi sat in
huge chairs, while the older man, Koda, knelt before them, and
Fionnuala perched on a stool. It didn’t look official to me, but
the air was taut with a tense atmosphere. I just knew I would do
something wrong.

Fionnuala stared
directly at me for a few moments, and no one spoke. I squirmed,
uncomfortable, but she kept looking, finally cocking her head to
the side like an inquisitive little sparrow.

“
We
are here for the hearing of one Ava Delaney, accused by the vampire
coven now led by the one known as Gideon. You are Ava
Delaney?”

I
nodded.

“
You
use a surname? A human title?” Her eyes narrowed, and her tone was
one of accusation.

“
Yes,
of course.”

“
The
accusations are serious, and include murder and treason. How do you
plead?”

“
Uh .
. . not guilty?”

“
Indeed. You have only just appeared on the grid, so your word
is unworthy. We, the Council, were granted our positions in order
to keep peace and balance amongst the otherworldly creatures in
this country. We are few enough that the actions of one can upset
the whole. The rules are clear;
it
is a danger and must be
disposed of. Immediately.”

“
It?”
Christ, I couldn’t help myself. “I’m a person!”

She wrinkled her
nose as if discovering a bad smell. Maybe I did smell bad to
others, just like the vampires gave off a noticeable stench to
me.

Eddie stood—about
time too, I thought—and spoke in a high, regal sort of voice. It
all seemed very dramatic. “I speak for her.”

Fionnuala sighed.
“Of course you do.”

Gideon let out a
scornful laugh that was followed by titters from his
followers.

Eddie ignored
them. “The accusations made by that creature are false. Fionnula, I
demand a trial. This girl has done nothing to warrant execution, or
even imprisonment for that matter.”