Traitor (21 page)

“And Gabe’s not talking,” I said.

“Maybe Elathan knows,” Esther said. “He’s a consultant.”

“
I
don’t know,” Aiden said. “Why would Elathan?”

“He’s sneakier than anyone gives him credit for,” Esther said. “Plus, he’s been around a lot longer. And maybe you were only given the job because of how easily you could be trained.” She narrowed her eyes. “And corrupted.”

Aiden sighed and looked away.

“I need to go,” Shay said. “I’ll talk to Moses and the lads back at the station. I’ll spread the word to be alert on the streets. Whatever’s brewing will hit soon enough.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Get the reporters ready, too. After we deal with Eddie, we’ll hold a press conference, and all of the truth will come out.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Aiden asked. “It’s a little dangerous to instigate drama right now.”

“We need to make sure everyone has the right information,” I said. “The secrets and lies keep mucking shit up. We’ll likely know who’s on our side by the next meeting. In the meantime, we work on Eddie.”

“Maybe he’s taking a break,” Lorcan said. “Maybe it isn’t as bad as it looks.”

“It’s Eddie Brogan,” I said. “It’s always much worse than it looks.”

I stayed up late that night, worrying and unable to sleep. Deep down, I had always known that Eddie would come into play and that I would be dragged into something with him, but I hadn’t ever planned on him disappearing before I could figure out what exactly that might be.

A ringing phone woke me from a deep sleep. Groaning, I rolled over, but the call refused to stop. Finally, I checked my phone. Shay’s name flashed on the screen.

“Ava,” he said when I answered. “Put on the news. Right now.”

“What’s going on?” I mumbled as I hurried downstairs.

“Just watch it,” he said in a strained voice. “Call me back.” He disconnected the call.

I ran into the living room and switched on the television. The news reports showed fighting in the streets. Assassins, supernaturals, gangs of humans. Blood everywhere.

I sank onto the sofa and sat on a pair of legs. “Sorry,” I whispered. “Forgot you were there.” I slipped onto the floor, watching the TV intently.

Phoenix
rolled over and kneed me in the back of the head. “What’s going on?”

“Carl! Get down here!” I gathered my knees to my chest and watched my country turn on itself.

Phoenix
sat up, gasping in surprise. Carl came running down the stairs. He stood rooted to a spot halfway across the living room as soon as he noticed the news report.

“There’s no leadership,”
Phoenix
said. “They’re rebelling or else taking advantage of the mayhem. I see Guardians out there.”

“They might come here,” I said. “They might—”

The front door opened. We all glanced at each other as footsteps approached. My stomach tightened into a knot, but I couldn’t move, couldn’t do a thing.

Peter stepped into the room, his eyebrows rising as he caught sight of a shirtless Carl and
Phoenix
. “Hey,” he said.

My breath caught in my throat. Light footsteps in the hallway, then Emmett was there, and my life lit up again.

“You’re back.” I scrambled to my feet to hug Emmett.

He wrapped his arms around me, accidentally digging into my wound, but I didn’t care. Carl slapped Peter on the back and introduced him to
Phoenix
properly for the first time. I held Emmett tight, catching his scent, knowing he was safe. I ran my hand across his shaved head, and everything felt okay again. He was where he belonged.

Except that wasn’t right.

“Wait,” I said, pulling away from him. “What are you
doing
here?”

Peter caught my eye, and there was something new there, something I hadn’t seen before. “Maeve’s been pretty much haunting my son. I need you to make it stop.”

“Oh. And how do I do that?”

He gave me a humourless smile. “By listening to what she keeps insisting on telling Emmett all day every day.”

I glanced at the boy, suddenly seeing how weary he looked. “What’s she been telling you?”

He squeezed his eyes shut for a second. “She said that he’s going to kick-start the end of days. He’s going to use the book.”

I exhaled loudly. The book. Eddie’s book. The living book of dark magic that he kept hidden in his room. The one Gabe had been interested in. “She sent you back here for this? Why didn’t you just tell me over the phone?”

“She insisted we had to be here,” Peter said. “And the way things are going down, it seems like nowhere in the world is going to be safe soon enough.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Peter gestured at the TV. “The governments are falling. The
UK
, here… it’s spreading across
Europe
. There are rumours that now is the best time to rebel, that now is the best time to work together to push back against the oppressors, to form new ways.”

I bit my lip. “And that’s not a good thing.”

He choked out a laugh. “Ava, not everyone wants to be restrained by rules. This is the chance to create a new world, a world in which the strongest win. Every time. Is that what you wanted?”

I shook my head dumbly.

“We have to regain control,” Peter said. “We have to stop the madness.”

“We’re doing what we can,”
Phoenix
replied.

“And that’s why people are dying on the streets?” Peter asked.

“They’re Fionnuala’s assassins,” I muttered. “They have nowhere else to go.”

“Then we have to kill them all,” Peter said firmly.

“You shouldn’t have brought him back,” I said. “It isn’t safe here. Not anywhere.”

“He wanted to come home,” Peter said.

“We all did,” Yvonne said from behind him. I hadn’t even heard her come into the house.

“You can’t just come and go when you please,” Carl said in a harsh voice.

Peter looked surprised. “When did it become your business?”

“Since—”

Gabe strolled in then skidded to a stop when he saw everyone. “Oh,” he said. “Peter.” But he didn’t seem happy either. What the hell was going on with everyone?

“You’ve seen the news?” Gabe asked me.

“Yeah, Shay warned me.” I was trying to pay attention, but I had trouble keeping my eyes off Emmett.

“They’re trying to take over Headquarters,” Gabe said. “Whoever takes control gets the werewolves, the cells, the children, and everything else we have. We need to clear the place out.”

“What about Eddie?”

He sighed. “Hasn’t shown himself yet.”

“Somebody wake up Aiden and Esther,”
Phoenix
said. “We need them to help figure out the Guardian and assassin situation.”

“Aiden’s here?” Peter asked.

“Yeah,” Carl said. “Long story.”

He and Peter left to fetch the others while Emmett and I hugged again. Yvonne leaned against the doorway, refusing to sit down.
Phoenix
observed us all in silence.

“We need to make a choice,” I said when everyone returned to my living room. “Either stay and defend the cul-de-sac, or go and take back the Headquarters and everything with it.”

“We have police, we have criminals, and we probably have half of the Guardians,” Esther said. “But the only people we can trust are the family.” She didn’t mean blood.

“Esther, get in touch with your Circle,” I said. “Aiden, try to round up your shifters. See if you can figure out who our biggest threat is. Carl, contact Shay and tell him to get his people and Moses on board.
Phoenix
, what happens if someone opens the cages?”

“They die,” he said confidently.

“Well… great. Everyone knows we’re here. We’re sitting ducks. Where is safe?”

“We could go back to the sanctuary,” Lorcan said. “My, um, father might be the key to keeping it safe.”

“But we don’t know that for sure,” I said. “Gabe, did you send any Guardians to the children?”

“A few I trust,” he said. “But they can’t get in, so I don’t know how much use they’ll be.”

“At least the kids are safe from the mayhem,” I said. “
Phoenix
, would it be safe if the werewolves were around the children? Not inside the building, but outside. Could they be like…”

“Guard dogs?” Carl offered.

Phoenix
shrugged. “Only if I’m there.”

“The children are from the slave markets,” Lorcan said. “They’re important enough for that.”

Phoenix
nodded. Lucia stumbled, and I rushed over to catch her. When I touched her, dark images started flashing before my eyes: death, blood, destruction; the children murdered in their beds, only a couple of them ever getting the chance to fight back; me in the sanctuary, dying slowly, unable to protect my friends; the streets full of bodies as the wildest creatures took over. In the last, a book opened, filling the world with a shroud of darkness as nightmarish monsters wandered the earth.

When I blinked the images away, everyone was standing over me, staring at me in horror, and I realised I was lying on the floor, my face wet. I sat up and wiped my face, trying to smile at Emmett, who looked terrified.

I glanced at Lorcan. “Did you get that?”

He nodded grimly. “I take it you did, too.”

“What’s wrong with Ava?”
Phoenix
asked, sounding concerned.

“Lucia can send her the visions. Ava’s a conduit for power,” Lorcan explained.

“But it always comes with a price,” Carl said, carefully helping me to my feet. “I think you ripped your stitches.”

“Shit,” I muttered, seeing blood soaking through my top. Again.

“So that’s what happened back at the Headquarters when my mother touched you,”
Phoenix
said, looking thoughtful.

“That was some vision,” Lorcan said, and his voice shook.

“Tell me about it.” I sat on the sofa to catch my breath. “Think it’s literal?”

“Most likely.”

“Will somebody explain to the rest of us what happened in the vision?” Gabe asked in a harsh voice.

“People died,” I said sharply. “Eddie used the book, and the world changed. The…” I shook my head, unable to go on. What I had seen couldn’t be explained. It would suck all hope out of the world. And then I wondered. Was that why I was saved? Why all of us were somehow led to each other? To stop Eddie and his bloody book? “Yvonne, find out if Daimhín is going to come back anytime soon. Gabe, outside for a minute.”

“I don’t answer to you,” Yvonne snapped.

I rubbed my temples and counted to fourteen in an effort to stop myself from smacking some sense into her.

“Just do it,” Peter ordered, leading Emmett out of the room. The kid had already heard way more than I wanted.

Gabe followed me outside, and I looked at him sternly. “I need the truth from you,” I said. “You know something about the book, right?”

“I am aware that things are going wrong,” he said. “The world is off-balance, and the book is important. Anything can happen with the right knowledge, but nobody should be allowed to use that book.”

“Is this… was I hidden for this? Has this always been about Eddie fucking Brogan?”

He licked his lower lip and led me further from the house, stopping right outside the cul-de-sac. “It’s complicated. I don’t get to hear the plans. I was told to watch for my chance at redemption. When you came along, I just knew it had to be you. They don’t interfere, Ava. Not with the actions of the first.”

“The first?”

“The first vampire. I told you the story about Seth, the first evil Lucifer created from the humans. He’s practically a religion to many vampires. The more he was fought against, the larger a symbol he became. Some even believe he’ll be the one to restore vampires to their former glory.” His laugh was harsh. “Free will is supposed to be important. The most deserving save themselves. But sometimes… sometimes we need some help. Sometimes, one side gains an unfair advantage. Sometimes, the balance needs to be equalised. And the balance ended when Baba Yaga was murdered.” His expression softened. “At your trial, in front of everyone, I said
you
were the balance.”

I stared at him in horror. “When Mrs. Yaga was dying, she asked me to protect everyone. I said yes, but I didn’t know what I was saying yes to!”

He gazed back at me, his face unreadable. “What did you say yes to, Ava?”

“Her solicitor said I’m supposed to replace her now. That bad things could happen if I don’t. But I walked away because he said I had to stop taking sides. I told him no, Gabe. Have I done
this
?”

“If you were protected, and I believe you were, then it was for a reason. An important long-reaching one. Maybe this is why. Right place, right time.” He shook his head. “But surely there were easier ways.”

“So why me?”

“I have no idea. I swear to you, I don’t have the details.” He hesitated.

“But you know something.”

“I know that what you’ve told me about Peter is important. I wasn’t there, but I’m certain an angel was. I’m certain an angel saved Peter and took the memory from him. I would guess that it was
Cam
.”

“But why? Why would
Cam
involve himself in anything like that?”

“I’m not sure of anything, but I would assume it has something to do with Eddie Brogan.”

“Is Kate safe with
Cam
?”

He nodded, but I couldn’t read his expression. “He seems protective of her. I’m not sure why because he never does anything without a reward.”

His confirmation of my suspicions had my mind racing. “Don’t tell Peter,” I said. “Don’t tell him any of this until we know more.”

“I don’t particularly care to tell him anything,” he said.

“Explain to me what this has to do with my landlady? Make me understand what it all means.”

He licked his lower lip. “She was one of the Eleven. The Eleven were formed to protect this place. They were forgotten, as they wanted, but they maintained the veil. I’m talking about the natural balance, the veil between this world and others, life and death. To use the book, Brogan needs more power. The book was once said to protect us from what was within, and the power of a god is not enough to break the lock. He needs the power of many—stolen power, dark magic, and tainted blood—but all of that is nothing if the veil is maintained. When Baba Yaga—the Matriarch—died, the Eleven were no longer complete. Until she’s replaced, the veil is drawn back. Beings that don’t belong here can be called to this world. Darkness will bring the end of days. If we can stop him… we have to try.”