The Curse (9 page)

Tristan flinched hard at that. “Looks like you got yourself out of jail.”

“No thanks to you.”

Tristan ran his fingers through his hair and looked away. When he turned back to her, he actually appeared remorseful. “Later on, I thought about everything that happened that night and realized you might not have called in that bunch of military guys to kill us.”

“You mean Isak Nyght’s men? You should have realized the truth the minute I blocked for you so you could escape.” Isak Nyght hunted Alterants and gave a standing shoot-to-kill order to his men, all former military.

Isak hadn’t known she was an Alterant before that night, and she’d be on his shoot-on-sight list if Sen hadn’t wiped the memories of Isak and his men after they’d seen her shield Tristan’s group.

Isak was yet another complicated relationship she didn’t have time to dwell on.

Forcing her attention back to the male complication du jour, she said, “Couldn’t you have used a little logic? Why would I have brought in a bunch of black-ops boys with weapons who wanted to
kill
Alterants?”

Tristan held his hands out. “Look at it from my side. Sort of tough to reason all that out in a split second when someone’s trying to kill me. I had the safety of three people in my hands, which included my sister. Tell me you’d have made any different decision if you’d been in my place, with you trying to haul us in to face a Tribunal and men pointing cannons at someone you care about.”

Nothing would be gained by arguing the past. She picked at the calamari some more and said, “You said you had information on the traitor. What is it?”

“I can’t tell you—”

She slapped the chair arm. “Don’t even start that crap with me again.”

“If you’d let me finish, I was saying
I
can’t tell you because I don’t know anything about the traitor, but I have someone who does.”

“The friend who gave you money?”

“Yes.”

“Where is he or she?”

“He, and that’s why I’m here, because he said he can’t get near you with Tzader, Quinn and everyone else so close.”

“Tell him to call me.”

“Nope. He won’t risk talking on the phone or any other electronic format. He wants you to meet with him.”

“Why?”

“Because he has a personal interest in helping the Beladors and said you’d understand as soon as you meet him.”

She toyed with that, trying to decide what to do with this opportunity. “Why is he helping you?”

“He runs the equivalent of an underground network that helps people like us, beings without any support or pantheon.”

What choice did she have at this point other than to play along? She needed Tristan and he knew it. “It will have to be at night and I’ll pick a place”

“It’s
tonight
and I know the place. I’ll take you there.”

She made a chuffing sound of disbelief. “You really think I’m going to let you take me somewhere?”

“It’s the only way he’ll talk to you. He
wants
to talk to you specifically about Conlan O’Meary.”

Crud. Could this be for real? Tristan shouldn’t know about Conlan, so clearly this guy had some information. “Let’s say I agree to do this. What do you get out of it?”

“Safe passage out of the country for me, Petrina, Webster and Aaron.”

“Where’d you put your sister and those two Rías?”

“Somewhere safe.”

“Webster and Aaron still able to control their beast?”

“Yep. Getting better all the time.”

That brought up a question burning the inside of her brain that Tristan might be able to answer. “Speaking of Rías, what do you think makes them different from us … besides eye color?”

“Why?”

“Because we’ve had another one shift in Atlanta.”

Tristan tapped his chin with a finger. “That fog return?”

“No. We’ve had gang wars breaking out and found a few trolls mixed in, but tonight was the first time a Rías appeared in one of the fights.” She considered mentioning the Svarts, but changed her mind. Until Tristan gave her a reason to share more, he had all he needed to know for now. “But you met up with Webster and Aaron before the sentient fog was released. Where’d you find those two Rías?”

“Remember when you and I first met? And I was here with the Kujoo?”

She looked up in a mock show of trying to remember. “Let me think. You mean the very first time in Piedmont Park when you turned Nightstalkers into demented ghouls that attacked me?”

“
I
didn’t change them. The Kujoo warlord did that.”

“I don’t see the difference since you
were
working with the warlord.”

Tristan rolled his eyes. “Do you want to know how I met Webster and Aaron or not?” He waited for her noisy sigh before continuing. “When I got a chance to slip away from the warlord, I was down in the project housing late at night when Webster and Aaron tried to mug me. I didn’t want to hurt them since they were human, but the demented ghouls had followed me and swarmed those two, then Webster and Aaron started shifting.”

“So maybe it takes an unnatural source of hostility like the sentient fog or aggressive ghouls to cause the Rías to shift.”

“Maybe.”

That supported the theory she’d worked out with Quinn. She’d have to let him and Tzader know. “The Rías I know about had no control. They just shifted and killed immediately. What about Webster and Aaron?”

“They would have, but I shifted into my Alterant beast the minute they changed.”

Evalle groaned. “VIPER would have gone crazy if they’d heard about that.”

“Screw VIPER. I can control my beast and I have no doubt you can control yours. The minute I grabbed those two guys and made it clear that I was the dominant beast, they immediately changed back into their human forms, scared shitless.”

She wasn’t acknowledging or denying that she could control her beast since no one could know that she had fully shifted once. “So fear of something more powerful that forces back their aggression snaps them out of the change?”

“That’s a possibility,” Tristan said, more to himself than her. “I spent a couple of hours with Webster and Aaron, making them shift back and forth, then explained the danger of being exposed to VIPER agents. Once I believed they could control their shifting, I stuck them in the Maze of Death to hide them.”

She remembered that place
beneath
the underground MARTA rail system all too well. “Weren’t you worried a dangerous spirit in there would trigger their change?”

“Not where I put them. You met the passive spirits in the chamber where I’d left those two.”

“I also met that crazy spirit with a pitchfork who stabbed you.” But she lifted her hand, stalling any further talk on the Maze. “Back to my original question. How are Rías different from Alterants?”

“From what I’ve figured out, they have super strength and some weak kinetics, but nothing like an Alterant’s powers.”

“I beg to differ. I fought one three weeks ago that slammed me with a kinetic punch that knocked me off my feet.”

“Really? That’s new. Maybe it’s hit or miss on their powers, because I haven’t met one like that.”

She tucked that into her ongoing mental file on Rías. “What else can you tell me?”

“Like I said about you and me, I think Alterants can control their beasts from the first time they change, but the Rías seem to immediately turn into aggressive beasts on attack.” Tristan paused. “I think the difference is our blood. We carry Belador blood, but maybe they don’t.”

Evalle considered everything he said, then argued, “But there were reports of
Alterants
who shifted and killed, several in the Southeast in the past year.”

“I heard about those
reports
,” Tristan echoed with a heavy dose of accusation. “Who says so? Macha and Brina? But
you
haven’t witnessed an Alterant turning into a mindless beast, have you?”

“No.” Much as she hated to feed Tristan’s distrust of Macha and Brina, Evalle had to admit he had a valid point.

“And that’s why I’m getting my group somewhere safe soon.”

Evalle snapped her fingers, excited. “Wait. I haven’t told you the good news. That’s why I’ve been trying to find you. Macha is the one who got me out of prison. She petitioned the Tribunal for Alterants to be recognized as a viable race …
and
, wait for it, Macha has offered amnesty to all Alterants who come forward and swear loyalty to her. They’ll be safe as long as they can keep their beasts under control.”

Tristan listened with interest, unable to hide his surprise at that last declaration.

She beamed at her accomplishment. “See? You can stay.”

He started shaking his head. “I can’t give her or the Beladors that kind of trust, not after what they did to me.”

Evalle tried not to lose her patience with him since he’d been locked away inside a spellbound enclosure in a South American jungle … twice. But he couldn’t turn his back on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

With Macha, this could mean a life-or-
death
opportunity.

“This is a limited offer with a short time span, Tristan.”

He scoffed at her. “That’s what I mean. So much for a sincere offer.”

“It
is
sincere, but I haven’t been able to find one Alterant in three weeks to bring forward as a show of good faith from our kind. And now an Alterant—or a Rías—has killed one of Dakkar’s bounty hunters, so Dakkar’s screaming for justice.” She could see his disgust at her taking Macha’s side in this, but fair was fair. “How can Macha stand before a Tribunal and support us when no Alterant besides me is willing to come forward?”

Tristan’s gaze traveled everywhere but her face. He muttered, “She should have thought about that five years ago when she had Brina lock me up for no reason.”

“I’m not discounting what she did to you, but things have changed and she’s making you—and every other Alterant—an offer you aren’t going to find anywhere else. She’ll probably accept Webster and Aaron, too, once we show her their control.”

“There is no way in hell I’m trusting
any
offer from Macha.”

Evalle kept her voice calm and understanding. “You’re the only person I’ve met who claims to have information on the origin of Alterants and what we all have in common.”

“It’s not just a claim and it’s more about our origins in particular. Mine, yours and my sister’s.”

“Okay. Great. I need that information and your help now while we have this chance to become a recognized race. You may be willing to live with a target on your back forever, but other Alterants deserve the chance for freedom.”

That must have struck a chord in Tristan. He leaned forward as if reconsidering his stance, then shook off some thought and sat back, arms crossed. “I’m not sharing anything unless you talk to my guy.”

They were back to that. “If I agree to go with you tonight, then in return I want you to talk to Brina about Alterants.”

“Not a chance.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not meeting with Brina or Macha. The minute I come out of hiding, I’ll lose any hope of getting back to my sister or leaving the country with my group.”

“VIPER is everywhere, Tristan. There is no safe place where you won’t be hunted.”

His mouth set in a stubborn line. She was not going to get him to budge on that point. “If I can guarantee that you can walk away, would you consider speaking to the Tribunal?”

A muscle twitched in his cheek. “Can you guarantee that?”

“I have to talk to Tzader first. If he says he can do it, then you’ll be safe. So what do you say?”

“Meet with my guy and I’ll talk to Tzader. If he convinces me I can’t be trapped, then I’ll consider a meeting on neutral ground.”

That was a step closer, but Evalle needed to end up with something tangible tonight. “Okay, but as a minimum I want what you have on Alterants before I leave tonight’s meeting.”

“Agreed.”

Finally. She finished off the calamari and followed him outside. “Give me a minute to stop by my bike.”

He turned around. “No. We’re leaving straight from the club. It’s the only way to be sure you won’t have a weapon.”

“I won’t use my dagger on anyone … if I don’t have to.”

“No weapons. That was the one requirement this guy made from the first minute I met him, and I’ve stuck by it. I’ve been around him for three weeks. He’s not a threat. Even if he was, between the two of us, he’s no match.”

“You want me to just trust you?”

“Says the woman who wants me to walk into Macha’s lair.”

“Never mind. Let’s go.” She still had the blades in her boots.

When Tristan reached a four-door Toyota, a rental car, Evalle noted how the license plate had mud over the numbers. She’d settled into the passenger seat when Tristan tossed a wad of cloth onto her lap and said, “Put that on.”

She picked up the black bag. “You can’t be serious.”

“As a heart attack. I agreed not to let you know where I was taking you and that you wouldn’t bring anyone with you.”

“If that’s the case, why don’t you just teleport me, or can’t you still do that?”

“I can, but my sister, Webster and Aaron are at a different location this guy’s people are guarding. I can’t teleport long distance two times in a row easily, so I’m conserving my power in case I ever need to get to my sister quickly.”

That meant he could teleport away as soon as Evalle met this other guy and leave Evalle stranded. “I’m not comfortable with this, Tristan.”

His sigh stretched into a growl. “Look, I didn’t want to say this until you spoke to my guy, but you really need to talk to him for your own safety.”

“Why?”

“Remember when we were underground in the Maze of Death with Kizira?”

“I tend to remember near-death experiences, so, yes.”

“Did you tell anyone that Kizira said Quinn told her where to find you?”

“No.”

That shocked Tristan. “Not even Quinn?”

“
He’s
been gone for the past three weeks,
too
, and just got back tonight. I’d be discussing it with him right now if not for meeting you.”

“What about Tzader?”