Tegan's Power (The Ultimate Power Series #4) (15 page)

They look up at him,
heads all turned to attention. I can see Lucas below, standing by a stall of
jewellery. He picks up a gold watch and examines it. I focus in on this detail
because he’s the only one not staring intently at Ethan.

“Today, while you all
slept, the sorcerer Theodore made a television broadcast to the humans of the
city. To put it simply, he told them to mark their doors with a circle in chalk
and then gather at Campion row. From there they plan to visit every home
without a circle and burn it to the ground.”

There are numerous
exclamations of shock and surprised intakes of breath. Some female vampires clutch
onto their mates, unmistakable fear in their eyes. All of a sudden, I’m seeing
these creatures in a new light. They may live a lot longer than humans, may be
a lot stronger, but they are still mortal. They can still lose the things that
they hold most dear.

“I have called you all
here tonight so that you can be aware of this and mark your doors just the same
as the humans.”

Before Ethan can say
more, a dark haired vampire holding a half empty bottle of Jack Daniels
stumbles to the front of the crowd. “Why don’t you just let us all have a drink
of your little blood whore and we won’t have to worry about day time attacks?”
he slurs, his mouth a cruel slash across his face.

Without a single word
Ethan jumps from his spot and lands gracefully onto the ground floor in front
of the drunk. I wish he hadn’t done this because given the idea that’s just
been planted in the heads of every vampire here, I feel decidedly vulnerable
standing all by myself, unprotected.

“How dare you suggest
such a thing,” Ethan seethes as he advances on the man.

Perhaps seeing his own
death in Ethan’s gaze, he lets his bottle of whiskey fall to the ground with a
loud smash and his face goes even paler than it was before.

“I’m s-s-sorry. I
didn’t mean it. Please forgive me.” He falls to his knees and bows his head as
though submitting to a king. Is that what Ethan is now? A king amongst his own
kind?

With one swift movement
Ethan kicks the man hard in the ribs. “Get up,” he demands.

The vampire fumbles
quickly to his feet, his entire body practically shaking with apprehension.

“Apologise again,” says
Ethan once the man is standing.

“I beg your
forgiveness. I’m sorry a thousand times. Please, spare me,” he rattles out
desperately.

Slowly, Ethan begins to
shake his head as he tuts. “Not to
me
. Apologise to
her
.” He
gestures up at me and I inhale sharply when the attention of the entire market
focuses on me. My palms feel sweaty as I grip the safety bars tight.

The drunk vampire looks
up at me with downturned eyes. “I’m sorry, my lady. Truly, I am. Please, accept
my sincerest apologies for what I said. I have had far too much to drink and…”

“That’s enough,” Ethan
hisses grabbing a hold of the collar of his jacket and flinging him into the
crowd. “Anybody else have anything to say on this matter?” he asks prowling
back and forth before his audience. Absolute silence answers him. “Very good.”

If I blinked I’d have
missed it, but his eyes flick briefly to Lucas who is standing at least ten
feet away from him. Ethan gives him a barely perceptible nod and Lucas slinks
swiftly through the crowd to the drunk. Oh, shit. His hand slides to the inside
pocket of his coat and he pulls out a sharp pointy stake. Finding the drunk, Lucas
grabs him by the throat and slams the stake down into his heart.

“I will suffer no more
threats against what is mine,” Ethan declares. “The punishment for such threats
is death. I hope you all understand this now.”

When he says ‘what is
mine’, does he mean me?

There are low
murmurings of assent and nervous tension grips tightly at my heart. Suddenly,
it feels hard to breathe. Ethan just had Lucas kill a man for speaking against
me. In my head there are two opposing sentiments at war. One is relief that
he’s this dedicated to protecting me, but the other is fear that he’s willing
to resort to such extreme actions simply to communicate a point.

Having power isn’t the
cushy setup most people imagine it to be. You have to make hard decisions and
do hard things. I get that. I get why Ethan had Lucas kill the drunk, I just wish
he didn’t have to do stuff like that.

“The sorcerer Theodore
is trying to incite us to violence again,” Ethan begins to speak. “I will not
allow that to happen. There is to be no unnecessary violence towards any
humans. I will put a stop to his plans to ruin us. In order to survive, we need
to be able to live peacefully among the human population in a symbiotic manner,
and that is the kind of environment that I will strive to create for all of
you. You have my word.”

As I look down on the
vampires all listening intently to Ethan’s speech, I see something change in
them. They’re taking in his words and there is relief on their faces. They don’t
want to be at war, and the kind of city that Ethan is describing appeals to
them. A grain of hope formulates, as I think this could be it. Perhaps Allora
was wrong when she said it would be a little girl who finally brings peace to
Tribane. Maybe, just maybe, it will be Ethan who does it.

Finn

You know what I think? I think it should
be made illegal for anyone to ever have to be up this early in the morning. I’m
awake and dressed at the arse crack of dawn. I’ve had my breakfast and I’m
currently in the process of arming myself to the teeth. You’d be amazed by the
amount of weapons a person can conceal on their body once they put their mind
to it. So far I’ve managed five guns, seven knives and three stakes. I know
it’s morning and there aren’t going to be any vamps around, but you can never
be too careful.

I’ve commandeered Ira
to come along with me to Theodore’s gathering on Campion Row, and since he’s
such a big bastard he’s beating me hands down in the ‘how many weapons I can
strap to myself’ game. I have to admit, I’m kind of jealous.

We’re standing in the
kitchen, a selection of knives scattered across the counter, when the door
creaks open and Allora steps into the room. She’s fully dressed and her hair is
tied back in a ponytail. When I see it I instantly have ideas about pulling it
out and watching all that golden hair fall over her shoulders.

“What has you up at
this ungodly hour, Goldy?” I ask her with curiosity.

“I want to come with
you,” she answers and I instantly stiffen.

“No can do, I’m afraid.
This is an iffy situation we’re going into and if a riot breaks out it’s not
going to be safe for you. I want you to stay here.”

“But I can help,” she
says and I have a hard time imagining how she could possibly be a help in this.
She’d be far more of a hindrance since I’d have to be looking out for her the
entire time.

Still, not wanting to
come across like a prick, I entertain her idea. “Okay, how can you help us,
honey?”

With her hand on the
wall, she feels her way over to a chair and sits down. She’s still not entirely
sure of the layout of my house yet.

“I have a couple of
other abilities as well as my visions,” she replies and my curiosity piques.

I fold my arms. “I’m
all ears.”

She runs a finger back
and forth over the hem of her top. “I can interfere with people’s emotions, so
if the crowd becomes incensed I’ll be able to calm them.”

“Well, that certainly
sounds like it could come in handy,” I agree. “What else can you do?”

“Um, well, that’s all
actually,” she answers, sheepish. “Perhaps I exaggerated a little when I said a
couple.”

“How many people can
you affect with this…ability?”

“A lot. Maybe a hundred
at most.”

I lean back against the
counter and tap my boot on the floor, considering it. Calming down a hundred
people might not be everyone, but it would still make a big difference if
things happen to turn sour. The population has been damaged enough in the past
few weeks, we don’t need any further casualties.

“And what if you get
separated from me and Ira? How will you defend yourself?”

She chews on her lip.
“You could give me one of those knives over there?”

“You can’t see. How did
you know…?”

“I could hear you
moving them around,” she quickly explains and I grin.

“Good hearing.”

“So, can I come?” she
asks hopefully.

I sigh, having no clue
why this girl would even want to come. If I had my choice I’d be back in bed
catching another forty winks.

“Okay, then. But you
need to stick by me at all times. Understood?”

She smiles.
“Understood.”

“I’m not sure this is
wise,” says Ira as he slides a gun into one side of his shoulder holster and
then a second into the other side.

“I’ll keep her safe,” I
tell him and then we resume to silently arm ourselves.

Before we leave I take
a piece of chalk and draw a circle on my door. I don’t want anyone mistaking my
house for a vamp den, even though I’ve played host to my fair share of fangs in
recent weeks. Oh, how my once immovable stance against them has been moulded to
make allowances. I feel like I’ve sold out. Then again, my choices have been
kind of limited.

Once we’re all ready to
go we hop in the van and drive into the city centre. Along the way, every house
I see has a big white chalk circle on the door and there are hundreds, if not
thousands, of people walking in the same direction that I’m driving. I have to
park a distance away from Campion Row, because there’s far too much foot traffic
clogging up the roads as well as the pathways. When I get out I take Allora’s
hand into mine and we walk. I stop when my phone rings to pull it out of my
pocket. Tegan’s name shows up on the screen.

“Hold on a second. I
have to take this,” I say to Allora and Ira before I answer.

“Well, I’ve never known
you to be an early bird,” I chirp in greeting. “Perhaps Cristescu’s a good
influence after all.”

“Shut up, Finn,” she
replies and I can hear the annoyance in her tone. “Where are you?”

I cock an eyebrow when
I take note of the noise in the background on her end. “Where are
you
?”

“I’m at the top of the
Blackfield monument. There are so many people here, Finn. I’m worried.”

Oh, you silly, silly
girl. I tighten my jaw. “Are you alone?”

“Yeah.”

“Stay where you are.
I’ll be five minutes.”

It actually takes us
closer to ten minutes to find Tegan because of the crowds. We climb the steps
and I give her my most disapproving look.

“What?” she asks and
there’s just the tiniest sliver of guilt in her voice. “I had to come. Rita
could be here.”

“Yeah, of course you
did. Where’s Cristescu?”

Her mouth tightens.
“Still asleep. He doesn’t know I’m here.”

I whistle. “He’s not
going to like it when he finds out.”

“
If
he finds
out,” she corrects me. “And he won’t if I have anything to do with it.”

“He’ll know. Have you forgotten
how he read me yesterday? The guy has a flipping radar for thoughts now, and we
have you to thank for it.”

I turn from her and
guide Allora over to sit down on a step.

“It’s not a bad thing.
I think he’s going to rule the vampires right,” says Tegan.

I instantly shush her,
eyes shifting to the people standing close by. “Less of the ‘v’ word around
here, please. Unless it’s vagina. You can say vagina all you want.”

Allora’s mouth quirks
in an almost smile and I smile back at her even though she can’t really see me.

Tegan rolls her eyes.
“You should have seen him speak to them last night at the Market Below. It was
an eye opener. They all really respect him, I could tell. It’s not like it was
with Whitfield. Ethan is going to be a different kind of ruler.”

I stare at her
cynically. “I’ll believe that when I see it. And what, pray tell, did you think
you were playing at going to the Market Below? It’s…vagina central and you
might as well be their favourite kind of candy.”

“Ethan brought me. I
knew nothing would happen if I was with him.”

“Oh, because he’s just
such a big swooning hunk of manliness,” I say sarcastically.

She grins. “That’s one
reason, yes. Oh, and you better not refer to him as a vagina to his face. I
don’t think that would end well.”

“When people tell me
not to say things, it kind of makes me want to do the opposite.”

Tegan groans. “Don’t I
know it.”

A silence falls between
us as I sit beside Allora and begin to scan the gathered crowds for any early
signs of disruption. There’s certainly a restless tension in the air. These
people really want to burn themselves some vampires.

I glance at Tegan to
see her twisting a strand of hair between her fingers. I’ve noticed this is
something she does when she’s anxious.