Unseen (The Heights, Vol. 1) (35 page)

“Angels are out, ghosts…” She rattled off a
few others. “If it was a vamp, they’d have killed you.”

“Out of the others, who was the least
attended group at the Treaty celebration when the demons
escaped?”

“No idea. It was too chaotic.”

“As I believed, as well. Unfortunately, I was
too distracted by you to see very much else. But now, I have. And
now, you must. Close your eyes and recall what you saw.”

“You could just tell me, you know.”

“If I do, you will not believe me. Because
you are incredibly stubborn and a terrible listener. If you
discover it yourself, there will be no doubt in your mind.”

“I’m not a terrible listener.” Sighing, she
closed her eyes. “The vamps phased out right away. And the demons
who weren’t trying to kill everyone. All the seers who couldn’t get
out. Obviously a few of the weres hung out.” If they hadn’t, that
dog might be out somewhere having a beer with his friends right
now. “Angels stayed to help, and only a few mages went to begin
with.” Which left the— “Are you absolutely sure?”

“I have not said a name, so you should ask
yourself that question. As for the name that stands in my mind,
yes, I am sure.”

“But I saw some of them. They were
there.”

“How many did you see and which positions in
the coven did they hold?”

“I don’t know their positions. But I saw—”
Damn it. When the demons got loose, Herrick was near the front
door. He and the others
knew
to be close to the door. “Why
would they want a war?”

He said nothing, probably waiting for her to
figure it out. But
that
was never going to happen.

“They couldn’t have known I was going to
break the line.”

“That does not matter, because you
failed.”

“What do you mean?”

“A witness told me the line was broken three
times—once by you and twice near the witch’s champion.” If the
witness
was
the witch’s champion, Addison didn’t think he’d
given up that information willingly. Or pain free. But because of
his actions, a lot of seers and other beings died. Because of all
of their actions.

“They opened the portal and summoned the
demons?” She knew without him saying anything. “The witches.
Wow.”

“You will not go near that event. I still do
not know enough about their motives, but you are a weapon. If they
ever found out, they might try to use you.”

How would they find out? Well, Parker was
obviously suspicious and they’d never spoken until that night. The
night of the party.

“Who invited you to see the Black Sun?” he
asked.

Oh no.
She pictured Dawn’s foggy eyes
right before the werewolf bit her. Did those foggy eyes see Addison
turn him into the dog? There was no reason Dawn would know anything
about the dat vitae, but if she’d seen the were’s transformation,
she might be curious enough to ask, say, her new boyfriend.

Double shit.
“Dawn’s dating a
warlock.” But she would never betray Addison on purpose—they’d been
in the same draft.

“I will speak to her.”

“Let me.”

“You mistake my intent, Addison. When I said
I will speak to her, I did not mean a chat between friends.”

“You’re going to torture her.”

“I will torture them
all
, if
necessary. If they know of your power, you will never be safe.”

“You can’t,” she said quickly. “Let me talk
to her first. Maybe she wasn’t even involved. It probably wasn’t
even about me. They staked
you
, remember?”

“I will find that out when I ‘speak’ to
her.”

“What about the coven?”

“They will not attend. Primarily because they
will all be dead.”

“Rhyse, you can’t.”

“They attempted to start a war. I cannot
pretend it is not what it is and simply let them go. Lock your
doors and close all your drapes. Do not open your door to anyone. I
will be there as soon as the sun begins to set.”

“Maybe they put a hex on her.” She ran
through her apartment, closing every curtain until the entire place
was dark. “Please don’t do anything to her. Let me find out. She’ll
tell me. I know she will.”

“You will do nothing. Nor will I make you a
promise I cannot keep. Whoever is a danger to you will die, whether
it is one or all of them. Be ready to go when I arrive.”

She couldn’t let him kill Dawn. She just
couldn’t.

“Have you locked everything up and pulled the
drapes yet?”

“Yes,” she said…from the sidewalk outside her
building.

Addison cowered in the shadows across the
street from Bella Bru and concentrated on searching the area for
magic. Since the café was packed with humans, supers wouldn’t risk
exposure by hurting her. So she was safe. For now. She crossed the
street at a run and took a seat that had a view of the entire
place.

Dawn showed up a few minutes later, smiling.
“Hi! I ran here, so I’m totally sweating. It’s so hot out there.”
She couldn’t possibly know anything. The warlock was using her, and
Dawn was completely in the dark about all of it, or at least
Addison’s part in it. The warlock probably told Dawn to invite the
Prime’s toy. Then when the Prime came to get her, they could snatch
him. It had nothing to do with Addison’s power. Regardless, she
didn’t have time to pretend she cared about the weather.

As soon as Dawn sat down, Addison leaned
forward, keeping her voice low. “Is this eclipse thing a
setup?”

“What? No!” She paused, her brow tightened.
“Kind of. But not really.” Then she lowered her head.
“Probably.”

“If you could only pick one, which would it
be?” Addison waited, tense and ready for the worst.

“I did what I was told to do. I didn’t know
anything until you told me you found the Prime. And I had no idea
that Herrick was involved until yesterday.”

“What did he tell you?”

“The Prime tried to kill him, they struggled,
and Herrick staked him right before the Prime disappeared.”

“Wow, poor guy. Did he mention why he just
happened to have a silver-studded stake with him?” Addison shook
her head. “Your boyfriend lied. He and the other witches set the
whole thing up. They wanted Rhyse weak, not dust. After Herrick
‘accidentally’ staked him, Rhyse ended up in front of my house,
hurt and hungry and pissed off.”

Her face blanched. “But you’re okay.”

“I’m not sure that’s true.”

“If I’d known, Addison…” They’d been friends
for years, and supers were incredible manipulators, so it was hard
to believe Dawn had done anything deliberately.

“You really don’t know what’s going on, do
you?”

“Not really.”

“Weren’t you curious why they wanted me to
come to their party? You never thought to ask?”

“They’re supers!” Dawn flinched and lowered
her voice even though neither one of them was speaking above a
normal level. Everyone in the Heights knew how to stay quiet. They
didn’t even have to try. “You don’t question a super, Addison.”

That was totally untrue—she questioned Rhyse
constantly. Of course, their relationship was far from normal. For
starters, their first few days together were spent with him chained
up to her bed and close to dusting. Which was totally the witches’
fault.

Dawn might not have known everything, but she
still sold Addison out, and it probably wasn’t for free.

“What did they give you?”

“What do you mean?” Dawn leaned back, her
hand over her heart.

“What’d they give you as a reward for your
service?”

“They’re supers. They don’t have to reward
obedience.”

“Rhyse always wants to buy me presents. When
it comes down to it, gifts and rewards are kind of the same thing,
don’t you think?”

“I guess.” Her fingers pressed into her
chest. No, not her chest. What was
resting
on her chest.

Everything seemed to go silent when Addison
realized how little the witches had paid for her life.

“That necklace is new, huh?” The teardrop
crystal caught the light. Pretty, but she’d assumed it was plastic,
its color and shape unlike any crystal she’d ever seen.

Dawn covered it with her hand.

“I saw it at the Treaty celebration. I
thought it was pretty, but not formal enough to match the rest of
you that night. Can I see it?”

“No.”

She popped an eyebrow up. “Can I see it?”

“No.”

“If I tell Rhyse I want it, he’ll get it for
me. As a seer, you can’t refuse him, and the witches who gave it to
you won’t refuse him, either.”

“Don’t tell him, Addison,” she said, close to
tears. “Please, don’t tell him.”

“What does it do?” She waited. “I know it
holds some kind of magic, so tell me what it does.”

“I’m transitioning.”

“Into what?”

“A witch.”

“You can’t be a witch unless you have it in
your blood.”
Oh, shit.
“When did you find out?”

“Herrick came into the office and knew right
away. Because he’s my half brother.”

“Wow, congrats. Family’s important.” Like
friendship. “Getting me to go to this thing today was—what?—some
kind of hazing ritual to get into the Witch Club?”

“I didn’t know about the Prime.” Why did they
think Rhyse would go just because Addison did, anyway? It wasn’t as
if the Prime dated a lot. “And I didn’t know what
you
were
until yesterday. I swear.”

“What I am.”

Dawn knew about the dat vitae, which meant
that the witches knew as well.

The breath Addison let out was long and
depressed. “Let me guess—your brother told you to invite me to the
party right after you told him about the werewolf biting me.”

She nodded. “I mentioned it to him only
because it was so weird. I wasn’t even sure I actually saw it
happen or it was just a head-injury thing. Even Herrick didn’t
believe me at first. The coven has records about the ritual twenty
years ago, but everyone thought you’d died in the fire, too.”

“What—?” Twenty years ago. Maybe she should
have died back then. Maybe she was dying right now. It sure felt
like it. As if she’d just been doused with gasoline—her eyes stung,
she couldn’t breathe, and any minute she would feel the burn. “The
witches made me. Twenty years ago.”

“You must have known.” Dawn looked confused,
as if it was common knowledge when a being was created and shoved
into a dead body. As if Addison should’ve saved the newspaper
clipping. Or the fucking ‘Happy Creation Day’ card.

“They made me,” she repeated, shoving her
chair back from the table.

“Shhh!”

Addison was surrounded by humans, drowning in
people with normal lives who had never died or been created or been
enslaved. “Why did they do it?”

“I don’t know,” Dawn said, still clutching
that stupid fucking necklace.

She leaned on the table, glaring at Dawn from
just inches away. “Did your brother tell you what I can do? What my
power is?”

Dawn shrugged and nodded and shook, as if
she’d forgotten everything she’d ever known. But since she’d come
here, whatever Herrick told her couldn’t have been
that
scary.

So Addison filled her friend in on the truth
and the not-truth of what she’d gotten herself into. “I could take
everything away from you. Everything. You’re looking at a walking,
mind-scraping, power-sucking, life-consuming beast. Seriously, I
got it all. Do you know how I do it?”

Finally, an actual gesture she could
understand—a dramatic shake of the head.

“If you ever see me close my eyes and get
really still, run the fuck away.” Only a
total
exaggeration,
but it was scarier than saying ‘
You need to ingest my
blood.’
Because that wasn’t even a little bit scary. Not to
mention that her power might not affect lower beings at all. “Where
is this Black Sun thing happening?”

Dawn gave her an address she’d never heard
of, probably a field of flowers surrounded by a certain number of
trees on the perfect latitude and longitude for mischief.

“What do they want to do to me?”

“Just talk or maybe have you take part in the
ritual, I don’t know.”

“Don’t you ever ask questions?” She closed
her eyes slowly, pointedly.

“Wait! I’m not a full witch yet so they don’t
tell me much, but they gathered supers—one of each race—for some
kind of ritual. Since they’ve been planning it for a while and they
just
found out about you, I think they just want you to hang
out.”

“You think they just want me to ‘hang out.’
Wow.” What world was she living in? Certainly not this one. They
pooled the races for a shindig on the day the eclipse just happened
to take place on the solstice. Just like they probably had twenty
years ago…for another dat-vitae-making party.

But with a different child. A different
vessel taken over by a being created, not born, who would always
feel alone and be in danger. Would they use a boy or a girl this
time?

Fuck no. They wouldn’t use either. Addison
couldn’t let it happen, whatever it cost her.

“Rhyse is going after them. The whole coven,
your brother, you too.” Every word held urgency. Because if Rhyse’s
people got there first, no one would be left, maybe not even the
child. Not to mention Addison
really
wanted to talk to
Dawn’s brother about what had happened twenty years ago. What and
why.

“Why did you tell me?” Dawn asked.

“Because you should run. Make an excuse, plan
a vacation somewhere, and cut all ties here.”

“I have nowhere else to go.”

“Find somewhere. Join a coven in another city
or don’t, but don’t come back to this one. Because tomorrow, it
won’t be here anymore.”

“I need to tell Herrick.”

“And he will need to tell the rest of them.
The blade is already falling. You can’t stop it. If you try, you’ll
end up just like them. The witches may be way more powerful than
seers, but they might as well be dust to the higher races.” Except
the dat vitae. And wasn’t that just a mind-fuck of colossal
proportions?