“If he doesn’t look like a vampire and has lived so long, then he must have some kind of money, right?” James asked. “I could use my contacts to find out if any big players have rolled into town and picked up some property maybe.”
“My ladies will pay closer attention to gossip,” Layla said. “If this vampire needs more beasts, he must be recruiting from the humans. We’ll use our charms to force confessions if we have to.”
“I’ll take a few shifts at Finn’s bar,” Callista said. “The customers will be so desperate to impress me that I’ll hear all sorts of secrets.” She smirked, and I had to look away. “Some may even be true.”
“I can help with research,” Willow said. “There are a couple of ancient beings I need to call on anyway. I’m a little rusty on my lore. I could use a refresher course.”
“Great,” I said. “Now I need to get home and make sure the first vampire hasn’t eaten all of my friends.”
“I’ll drive you,” Daimhín said. “We need to talk about some personal issues.”
I looked at Shay, but he just shrugged. So I said my goodbyes and left the theatre with Daimhín. She had arrived with two cars, obviously in preparation for a private meeting with me. As we walked across the street, I kept scanning the area as if I would see Seth standing in plain sight.
“Wait!” Mac called out. “I need a word with you.”
I rolled my eyes and turned to face him. “What now?”
“Just a friendly warning about the she-bear you’re hiding. Now, I see you have a protective streak. Fine with me. But know that if you put up a fight, Esther won’t be the only one hurt. You understand? When the shifters come for her, I won’t be able to control their bloodlust if anyone gets in their way.”
“Fuck right off,” I snapped. “If you want Esther, come get her yourself, you big coward.”
He growled at me, but Daimhín held up her hand and said, “Not now, shifter!”
They squared up to each other for a few tense seconds until the shifter grinned. He glanced at me. “See you soon, tainted bitch.” He walked away with his hands in his pockets, whistling loudly. Arsehole.
Daimhín calmly watched him leave. “Don’t get used to his presence. He won’t last long as alpha.” But in the car, hidden from everyone else, she lost her patient mask. “What are we going to do? Seth will take over everything. And if he has two tainted nephilim—two!—I don’t know how I’ll recover from this. Oh, it’s just one thing after another lately. Why can’t I have a century or so of peace like the old days?”
“One: calm down. Two: calm down. Has Eloise seen anything yet?”
“Oh, you know how she plays. She denies it, but she’s probably already certain how this will pan out.”
“Keep an eye on her. Or maybe I can talk to her.”
“No! Certainly not! Besides, you have your own seer.”
“Running empty on our end, too. Does that mean something, you think? Could he control what a seer… sees?”
“I have no idea. I’ve never had dealings with him personally. I know my master did, and he was terrified of the first. I don’t think we can discount anything at this stage.”
“Are we in this together?” I asked, feeling awkward. “I mean, are you planning on selling me out to appease him, or are we on the same page about getting rid of him for good?”
She hesitated a beat too long. “It’s not that I want to work with him. But if he dies, then so does our last chance to reproduce.”
“Look at what reproduction has done for you lately,” I said angrily. “Jules and beasts. Those days are over. Deal with it, Daimhín.”
She glared at me. “There’s no need for arrogance, Ms. Delaney.” She smoothed her linen trousers over her thighs. “As long as you oppose him, I will do the same. We can never be allies, but sometimes we share a purpose. If you side with him, I’ll make sure somebody ends you. I seem to recall you don’t do well against bullets.”
I forced a laugh. “Really? Funny how I’m still breathing then, isn’t it?”
She sniffed. “Confidence doesn’t suit you.”
She leaned out the window and beckoned Zion. He walked over, got into the driver’s seat, and started the engine.
“We’re taking Ms. Delaney home.”
We rode in silence. When the car finally slowed to a stop outside the cul-de-sac, she looked at me. “Is it possible?”
“What?”
“This… thing about Lucifer being freed. Is that something you can do?”
I sighed. “I have no idea what’s possible anymore.”
I got out of the car, and Zion immediately drove off. Half of the residents were waiting for me with umbrellas shielding them from the downpour.
“Okay,” I said. “I take it we’re doing this on the street. The meeting was a mess, but the vampire queen is ridiculously worried, so I’m thinking we need to do the curfew thing. Maybe Seth can live in daylight, but I don’t think so. Well, I’m hoping he can’t. So at night, we stay indoors. But we’re back to keeping watch. If you see or hear anything unusual, sound the alarm. Nobody watches alone. If he can mind-control us, then we need to be extra careful.”
“What happened at the meeting?” Carl asked.
“The usual. The shifter thinks it’ll be easier to kill me and Jess than to deal with Seth. But everyone has a job to do. They’re all on the lookout for information, so that should make our lives easier. On a similar note, the shifter alpha plans on coming here to take out Esther. Anyone heard from Esther?”
She wasn’t staying in the house I had transferred into her name, which made me believe she was hiding with Aiden. Everyone shook their heads.
“We have to warn her,” I said. “He’s a mean prick, that one. I doubt he’s going to come here while he thinks Seth is stalking the place, but we’ll have to deal with him eventually.”
“We need to leave,” Adam said.
Parker appeared to be holding him up, and the seraph was shaking violently.
“I’m telling you,” I said. “This is the safest place for Jess.”
“I’m not running anymore,” Jess told her father. “Ava’s going to help me. You’re not well, so she’s going to train me instead. And when we find out how to kill Seth, we’ll do it. Okay, Dad?”
She spoke to him as if he were a child, but he nodded obediently. She caught my eye and shrugged. I wasn’t sure if I was the best person to train a teenage girl, but she had no one else.
“Carl, set up the watch system,” I said, then I sneakily gestured to Margie to check on Adam because he seemed feverish again. “Everyone else get some sleep. We’ve a lot of work to do tomorrow.”
Once the crowd had wandered off, Peter asked, “How are you doing?”
I looked at him as if he were crazy. “I’m fine, thanks.”
“I can help with the girl. We could work together, and—”
“Thanks.”
“We’re going to be okay.” He took my hand and squeezed it. “We’ve been through wars. One measly vampire isn’t going to take us down.”
I blinked some rain out of my eyes. “He’s not really a vampire, though. You would think vampires would know a lot about him, right? Daimhín said she’d question her vampires, but she’s an ancient. Why doesn’t she know more about him?”
“We’ll find out the truth, me and you. We could go check out that vampire bar again.” His eyes flickered with excitement. “Just like the old days.”
I smiled. “Those days aren’t so old. You should take Val, instead. She’ll put the fear of, well, Hell into them.”
His face fell. “Okay. I will.”
I looked over his shoulder and saw Lucia waiting for me. “I have to go talk to Lucia,” I told Peter. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
I felt his eyes on my back as I walked away from him. I knew I wasn’t giving him what he wanted, but I couldn’t help expecting him to turn back into old Peter. I was terrified of old Peter. Old Peter had more of a hold on me
than new Peter ever would.
“You doing okay, Luce?” I asked the mute fae.
She motioned for me to follow her, and we strolled toward the mouth of the cul-de-sac. For a moment, I worried that she was under Seth’s control, but then she stopped walking and held out her hand. I glanced around to see if anyone else was watching. We had kind of promised to stop sharing visions in that way, partly because it made Lorcan feel left out, but mostly due to the effect the visions had on me.
I swallowed hard then placed my hand in hers. I squeezed my eyes closed when I felt the pressure of her fingers, and then I was somewhere else entirely.
The sky was dark, but a full moon provided some light. We were standing outside the cul-de-sac. I could see my body on the ground. I was alive… barely. There was a healing cut across my nose, but the rest of my body looked newly broken. My other self reached out with a shaking arm, face distraught.
Looking around in the vision, I saw Jess walk confidently up to Seth and take his hand. Sticking out of the back of her jeans waistband was my dagger. She didn’t look at my dying form as she strolled away with the first vampire.
“No!” I fell out of the vision and realised I was lying on the concrete inside the cul-de-sac. “It can’t be.” I swiped at my wet face, and my hand came away bloody.
Lucia knelt next to me. Her dress was flecked with what I assumed was my blood. She shrugged, a pitying look on her face.
“It doesn’t have to happen that way.” I spat out some blood and rose to my feet. “We can always change your visions.”
She took my hand again. I wasn’t prepared, but it didn’t matter much. That time, there was nothing, only darkness. However, I sensed the presence of others in the vision, though they seemed to be hidden or blocked. Frowning, I let go of Lucia’s hand. She gave me a meaningful look.
“Wait,” I whispered as realisation hit me. “Those are other visions. Hidden by someone? But the first one was as clear as anything. Do you think you were meant to see that one? Or that your visions are being manipulated?”
She shrugged again and helped me back to my house. I felt weak and shaken, but more importantly, I felt the wrenching pain that had come from seeing Jessica desert us and leave with Seth. Lucia tried to take me into Anka’s house, and I pulled my hand from her grip.
“I’ll be okay,” I told her. I wasn’t in the mood for a lecture, and I didn’t want to explain what we had just seen. I couldn’t let anyone know what might happen. “Don’t tell Lorcan,” I whispered. “Please, Lucia. Don’t make them look at her any differently. She’s just a kid. There’s hope for her.”
Lucia’s eyes filled with worry, but she nodded, and I knew she would keep our secret. I just didn’t know what I was going to do with it.
~ * ~
The next morning, I got up bright and early to drag Jessica out of bed.
“What are you doing?” she mumbled, pressing her face into her pillow. “You’re worse than Dad.”
“You were right last night,” I said. “It’s time we trained together. We might be fighting side by side someday, so we may as well figure out how to work as a team. We’ll work on a few things, and when we feel a little confident in each other, we’ll pick two opponents and try to kick their arses.”
She looked up at me, her face creased with pillow marks. “Not Val.”
“Hell, no. What do you think I am, crazy? Maybe Peter and Lorcan will do. Don’t be afraid to fight dirty.”
She smiled sleepily. “But Lorcan’s so pretty.”
“Then you’re definitely fighting Peter.” I perched on the edge of her bed. “How’s Parker?”
“He seems okay. I don’t know.” She sat up and pulled her knees to her chest. “He’s special, Ava. I never really had friends before the war. Dad didn’t let me talk to people. I was on my own all the time. And then I made some friends, but when Dad told them about me, we had to move on. And then I met, you know, him.” She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “I thought he was amazing, and he acted as though he might like me. But it was all so confusing, and I’m not used to people. I can’t read them.”
I nodded. It sounded like a confession, and I didn’t understand where she was going with it, or what the story had to do with Parker.
She stared at her hands. “So when he kissed me and asked me to sneak out with him, I did. And he took me straight to the vampires. He didn’t just hand me over, either. He hit me like he hated me. He had stolen my first kiss, but he hated me all along.”
“I’m so sorry, Jess.”
She wiped away a stray tear and cleared her throat. “I was okay. I kind of found my strength in that place. I made friends for life, too.” She shivered. “Most of the girls died, but not all of them. And when I saw those werewolves, I knew I had to get back to my dad, no matter what. So I did, and we moved on until Parker saved us from a gang of beasts. The beasts were working together, and it was terrifying, but they were scared of Parker’s fire.”
“Go, Parker.”
She grinned. “I was still nervous because of what happened, so I was kind of cold to Parker at first. But then we starting travelling with him and his grandfather, and we got close. But he’s never tried to kiss me or do anything, and I finally get how it’s supposed to be. He’s sweet, and he gave himself up to keep Dad and me together. Even though he’s scared of the fire inside him, he used it to free people.”
“You like him.”
“I… I think so. I mean, how do you know for sure? What if I’m just grateful that he helped us?”
That was something I couldn’t even figure out for myself. “Nobody can tell you how you feel, Jess. But when you thought he was being hurt at the children’s home, you were pretty fiercely protective yourself. That came out of a good place, I think.”
She shrugged. “What happened before made me doubt myself when it comes to this stuff. I don’t even know if he likes me.”
“For now, just know that you both care about each other. Don’t stress over the big stuff. Let it come naturally. Or not, as the case may be. You have plenty of time, Jess.”
“How do you juggle all of those men?” she whispered. “I can’t handle one.”
I glared at her, and she burst into laughter.
I shook my head. “Not funny. I’m going to punish you in training. I hope you know that.”
But her laughter was a beacon of hope. She could never leave us to join up with Seth. She got up to get dressed, and I went downstairs to make breakfast.
We talked about all kinds of things while we ate. She told me more about her journey, about witch’s luck and a little cottage on the moors and how her life had been in her early years.
I felt sorry for her, even as I saw similarities to my own life. I had been afraid to care about her because I had lost so many people. But maybe being afraid to care was worse than losing them all.
Chapter Fifteen
“Outside on the road or in my back garden?” I asked Jessica when she was ready to go.
She made a face. “Back garden, of course. Your neighbours are nosy.”
I grinned. “Yeah, but it’s too early for most of them. Garden it is, but we’ll be moving onto concrete at some stage. I’m a big believer in training the way you’ll be fighting, and you’re unlikely to fight Seth in my back garden. But it’ll do for a start.”
“What kind of training are we doing?” she asked.
The morning was chilly, the grass frost-tipped. Streaks of pink and orange highlighted the sky. At least the rain had stopped sometime during the night.
“Tackling, wrestling, basic moves.” I shrugged. “We’ll know what we need to work on when we get started.”
“I’m a little nervous.”
“I won’t hurt you.”
She shook her head. “I’m scared I’ll hurt you.”
“I think I’ll be okay, Jess.”
“But what if I lose my temper?”
“Yeah, you’re kinda supposed to lose your temper.”
/> She stopped walking and stared at me. “What?”
I met her gaze. “Listen, Jess. Me and you… we have these gifts. And we might think they’re more like punishments, but if they can help us, if they can give us an advantage, then you can bet your arse we’re going to use them. I spent way too long being afraid of myself. We’re going to skip right past that stage for you.”
She shoved her hands in her pockets. “Why were you afraid of yourself?”
Holy crap. The sharing part sucked. “Take a seat.” I gestured at the crappy plastic garden chairs. “I grew up being told I was a monster, that I was bad. I thought everything different about me was something to fear. So I hid away from the world and thought that made us all better off. But you can’t hide from yourself, from who you’re supposed to be. It’ll always be lurking, always waiting to jump out on you when you least expect it.”
“Is that what happened to you?”
“I suppose it did, but it made me wake up. It’s not easy to accept who you are sometimes, especially if you aren’t the world’s idea of normal or right. But if you’re not comfortable in your own skin, then what’s the point of trying to live up to somebody else’s ideal?”
“Me not killing everyone isn’t an unreasonable ideal,” she said grumpily.
“I thought I couldn’t control myself, too. I thought that if I let go, everyone else would get hurt. The shame was pretty bad, but the fear was something else. I learned to deal with it in my own way, but it wasn’t a solution. I let the fear of myself control me, and that’s just as bad as letting my thirst control me. Eventually, Carl came along, and I knew I needed help. I fell in with this crowd of misfits, and I haven’t looked back. The only reason I’ve survived this long is because I used those gifts I have. Most of them, I didn’t even know existed when I was your age.”
“So I could change?” She swallowed hard. “I could… get worse?”
“It’s not what you can do. It’s how you use it. If you’re a… a fire-breathing dragon, that sounds bad, right? But if you’re a fire-breathing dragon who uses fire to warm people who might die of exposure, then that’s good. That’s great. It’s not so black and white, and we can’t define ourselves by other people’s measuring sticks.”