He puckered his mouth as though there was a bad taste in his mouth. “This isn’t what they signed up for.”
“Then what did they sign up for? They signed up for this when the sun was missing, for fuck’s sake. They knew it wasn’t safe. They knew they would do and see crazy things. This is the life, Shay, and they signed up for it willingly.”
“They never saw this coming.”
“I know. And I’m sorry.”
We arrived at the estate Moses lived in. The atmosphere was cold and wary, just as it had always been. Teenage girls wearing school uniforms and carrying schoolbags shouted insults from one block of flats to the next. When they noticed us getting out of the car, they fell silent. Shay’s and my turning up so early in the morning wasn’t a good sign. News spread quickly, and by the time we reached the right flat and knocked on the door, many people had crowded on the balconies in silence.
I caught sight of Moses and shook my head slightly. He held back, but his drawn expression said he understood why we were there.
An older woman answered the door, a toddler in her arms. She smiled at me in confusion before she caught sight of Shay’s face.
“No,” she whispered. “Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.”
“Can we come in, Mrs. Corcoran?” Shay asked in his policeman voice.
She said no, but she stepped aside anyway.
Shay shut the door behind us. “Is your husband here?”
She nodded and dumped the toddler into my arms. “I’ll get him up out of bed. Go sit down… anywhere.”
The toddler observed me with grim eyes as I took him into the living room. We all sat on the couch, the boy in my lap.
Shay stared at the child. “That’s Layne’s son.”
“Layne?”
“Layne Corcoran. Younger than you. Youngest of the lot of them in the unit. The most eager. The most enthusiastic. Only child. Her parents take care of the little fella while she works. While she worked.” His voice cracked on the last word.
I hugged the boy because I couldn’t hug Shay. He had walled himself off. I had never had to tell a family that one of their own had been stolen from them, never witnessed the true aftermath of the pain our way of life left behind. My heart beat fast in my chest.
The boy stuck his finger into the side of my mouth and pulled. I was so surprised that I just stared back. He gave me a sudden, toothy smile, and my heart threatened to explode. He had no mother because of us. Because of me. I had to deal with Seth, no matter what the rest of the Eleven said about it.
“He likes you,” Mrs. Corcoran said when she returned with a tall man.
The locks of his hair were a shocking white, the rest of it a steely grey. He looked confused, as though he couldn’t possibly think of one reason why we might be there. “I saw you on the telly before. You must have a very, eh, very exciting life.”
I squeezed my eyes shut as the pair huddled together on one armchair, waiting for their world to be broken around them.
“I’m sorry,” Shay said. “Layne passed away last night in the line of duty. There was nothing anyone could do.”
Mrs. Corcoran licked her lips a number of times, her fingers going to her mouth as if she held a cigarette between them.
Mr. Corcoran cleared his throat. His eyes were full of unshed tears. “Can we see her?”
Shay hesitated. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
“Oh, Jesus.” Mrs. Corcoran rocked back and forth. The child reached out for her, but she ignored him. “What happened to her? What happened that we can’t see her?”
“We don’t know exactly what caused her death,” Shay said. “Only that it was quick. She didn’t suffer. Her body was burned afterward in a fire. That’s why you can’t see her.”
The lies fell easily from his lips. We didn’t know how exactly the pair had died, but I couldn’t blame him for pretending.
Mr. Corcoran stood and looked around, seeming anxious to do something. He took the child out of my arms. The boy squirmed then laughed, but otherwise there was only silence in the room.
“Her partner,” Mrs. Corcoran said abruptly. “She worried about him. Was he there?”
“He passed with her,” Shay said tightly. “No survivors.”
The woman clenched her hands together. “At least she wasn’t alone. I’d hate to go alone. I always think it would be better with someone by your side.”
I wanted to tell her that they had gone in peace, that they had even warned us first, but I didn’t think it would help. It might even make her want to see Emmett. So I kept quiet.
“I’m very sorry for your loss,” Shay said, getting to his feet. “Layne had a lot of potential. I had high hopes for her. If there’s anything you need, please call me personally.” He dropped his card on the coffee table. “Someone will come to you later today to help with the arrangements.”
“The arrangements,” Layne’s father stated. “Oh.”
“I need to go… see the other family,” Shay said. “You won’t be alone in this. Layne was part of… we’ll all grieve her passing.”
He led me out of the flat, his hand gripping mine. He was barely holding on.
Outside, we were surrounded by people. I waved at Moses, who made his way through the crowd. He escorted us down to his flat, ordering the people to give us some space. “Must be bad,” he said around a cigarette as he unlocked the door. “It’s only me!” he called out. “Ava and Shay are here.”
We stepped inside the warm flat and followed him into the living room. I stared in shock at Esther, who was sitting on Moses’s sofa.
Once I found my voice, I cried, “What the hell are you doing here? Where have you been? We’ve been worried sick! Is Aiden here? Are you okay?”
Esther held up her hands. “Apart from dying of second-hand smoke, I’m fine. Moses said I could stay. Nobody will look for me here, and it’ll keep the shifters away from your door. I haven’t seen or heard from Aiden. I have no idea where he is.”
“Doesn’t matter.” I eased down into the seat next to her. “Mac has his eye on the cul-de-sac. He even made a big-mouthed threat. But we’ve got bigger problems.”
“What’s going on?” Moses asked. “Ma! Make tea or something.” He screwed up his nose. “And toast. White bread. None of that wholegrain shite.” He shrugged. “She’s trying to be healthy like Esther. It’s fucking annoying.”
Esther rolled her eyes. “Why are you here, anyway? Is something wrong?”
Shay took a seat and cleared his throat. “Two members of our unit were killed by Seth last night.”
Her mouth widened into an O. “I’m so sorry, Shay.”
“Ah, jaysus,” Moses said. “Layne’s ma and da must be in bits. I’ll send me ma down with dinner for them later. Poor bastards.”
“We’ve to go to the other family next,” I said, wondering how I was going to get through more grief.
“What’s going on?” Esther asked.
I briefly explained the situation to her.
“I’m coming back,” she said. “If Mac thinks I’m there anyway, then I might as well be.”
“It’s a bad time,” I said.
“I can help. And I can’t run forever. Besides, I’m safe in the cul-de-sac, right?”
“Yeah, until Mac decides to send someone who thinks he’s just taking you out for a talk. The person wouldn’t intend you harm, but you would follow them out of safety. It’s a loophole.” Or someone could change his intentions, like Jessica and Adam. The cul-de-sac wasn’t as untouchable as I had been led to believe.
“He’s not that clever,” she said. “I’ll deal with Mac later. First we have to handle—” Her hand flew up to her forehead. She squinted and her face turned ashy.
Moses rummaged in a handbag on the coffee table and pulled out some tablets.
“What’s happening?” I asked, terrified by the obvious pain Esther was in.
“It’s like a migraine,” Moses said, “except worse, a
pparently. Happens every now and then.”
After a few moments, the episode passed, leaving Esther sweating and weak. “Damaged goods,” she said in a cracked voice. “Some shifters my family turned out to be.”
“Is there anything the hospital can do about it?”
“Nope. I’m lucky to be alive, they reckon. What’s a little pain?” She sipped from a glass of water Moses brought her. “It’s just something I have to live with. They have no idea what’s causing it. Sometimes I shift without meaning to. It’s embarrassing. It’s part of the reason I’ve haven’t come back.”
“But she’s grand about wrecking my gaff,” Moses joked.
His mother carried in a tray of tea and toast. Esther thanked her, earning a pat on the shoulder.
“Shay, you should eat something,” I said.
He hadn’t looked away from his hands the entire time we had been in Moses’s flat. He hadn’t even asked if Esther was okay. That was unlike him. He shook his head.
“Do you want to give me the address of the second family?” I asked. “I can… I can visit them myself.”
“I have to be the one.” He stood. “We should get going.”
I exchanged a worried look with Esther before following Shay outside. Moses walked ahead of us, clearing a path. I spotted a group of women huddled together and crying.
At the car, Moses squeezed Shay’s shoulder. “It means a lot that you came here yourself to tell us. We were all real proud of her.”
“It would have meant more if we had saved her.” Shay shivered and got into the car.
I looked at Moses and shrugged. “Keep an eye on the family. It hasn’t sunk yet, I don’t think.”
Moses glanced at the car. “That’s going around. Take care of yourself, Delaney.”
“Will do. And don’t let Esther come back. I’ll hold off the shifters.”
I got into the car and waved at Moses as Shay drove off. I expected another journey full of silence, but he began to talk almost as soon as Moses was out of sight.
“Anthony May,” he said. “Otherwise known as Anto. Big family. Lots of brothers. Expect noise. Well-respected family. He’s the youngest son. The mother didn’t want him joining the unit. This isn’t going to be the same.”
“I can handle it.”
He glanced at me. “Maybe I can’t.”
“Ah, Shay.”
He pulled over and laid his head on the steering wheel. “Is this all it’ll ever be, Ava? Death and sadness?”
“No,” I said, leaning over to put a hand on his shoulder. “Sometimes, it’s new beginnings and adventure and friends and making a home and family out of the dirt we live in. It’s making a better world for kids like Layne’s son. When he grows up, he’ll never have to fear the creature who murdered his mother, because we’ll have dealt with it.”
“Will we?”
“Seth has killed enough mothers,” I said in a cold voice. “He’s had his day.”
He sat up and looked at me, his face strained. “I forgot. He killed your parents, and I forgot. I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t know them. I have one crappy photo of them together. Jessica doesn’t even have a picture of her mother. She’s grown up hearing that her father cut her out of her mother’s womb while the woman was still alive. Seth has done enough. It’s time he got what he deserved.”
“You’re right.” Shay swallowed hard and started the car again. “Let’s get this over with and get back to work.”
The May family lived a good distance away. Their neighbourhood was nice, their house large. The garden was well kept, and the curtains in the windows looked spotless. Somebody cared about the home.
The door opened before we could ring the bell. A young girl, maybe eighteen or nineteen years old, immediately began screaming off a list of names. She slammed the door in our faces. I looked at Shay, bemused.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s normal.” The corner of his mouth curved upward in a semblance of a smile. “For the May family.”
The door opened after a few minutes. Two young men stood there, their faces grim.
“It’s about Anto, isn’t it?” the taller one said.
“Is the whole family home?” Shay asked.
The tall one nodded, and the other stepped aside so we could enter. Shay gripped my elbow and directed me into the living room. The teenage girl, an older couple, and four more young men were arranged around the room. They were all fair with sandy-coloured hair, but the mother’s was the lightest. The men were looked similar. I imagined Anto had probably looked the same.
“I’m very sorry to tell you that Anthony passed in the line of duty last night,” Shay said.
Three seconds of silence passed before the mother began to wail, and the rest of them began talking at the same time.
“What happened?” the father demanded. “What happened to Anto?”
“The very first vampire killed him and his partner last night,” Shay said. “They didn’t have a chance.”
“I knew it was a bad idea, sticking him with a human partner.” The mother crossed her arms over her chest. “I knew it, didn’t I? I said it all along.”
“Don’t be stupid, Ma,” one of the young men said. “He said she was the best of the bunch.”
“She had a baby,” the girl said sadly. “Poor little baby.”
“Oh, no,” Mrs. May said. “She was a nice girl, all the same. Just, you know, one of them.”
“Anto was crazy about her,” one of the brothers said, laughing. “He was going to ask her out, but he was too chicken.”
Shay ran his hands over his face. I worried he was close to breaking.
“He would never ask out a human,” Mrs. May said primly.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Mr. May said. “How are the Corcoran family? Do they need anything?”
I cleared my throat. “It might be a good idea for the two families to grieve together.” I couldn’t resist adding, “Even if they are human.”
“Of course,” Mr. May replied. “We should go see them. Do they have any other children?”
Shay shook his head. “She was all they had. There’s just the grandson now.”
The family began a discussion of how they would help the Corcorans, immediately turning their grief into something completely different.
Shay said over the noise, “Someone will come over and discuss the arrangements. Let me know if you need any help. I’m truly sorry for your loss.”
“Wait,” one of the brothers said. “Where’s this vampire?”
“We’re working on that,” I said as Shay abruptly left the room. “He doesn’t have long left, trust me.”
I followed Shay outside. He was standing as if frozen outside the front door.
“I’m not cut out for this,” he said. “I thought I’d be doing some good, but all I do is give people bad news, break their hearts. It’s too much. I can’t be this person.”
“You help,” I said, puzzled by his attitude. “How can you not see that?”
I hugged him, not knowing what else to do. He leaned against me. He was too human. He cared too much. And the rest of us were too used to death.
Chapter Eighteen
I returned home to find Phoenix at my kitchen table, which was covered in documents.
I squinted. “Uh…”
“Sorry,” he said. “I came back to talk to you, but you were already gone. I thought of something and got lost in the paperwork.” He didn’t sound very apologetic.
I took a seat. “I went with Shay to tell the families.”
He dropped his pen and leaned back in the chair. “I didn’t realise. How did it go?”
“Awful. Shay’s not taking it well, either.” I gestured toward the papers. “What’s all of this?”
“Transcripts of phone calls to the emergency line. And whatever info that could be found on the callers.”
I picked up a piece of paper, and my eyes were drawn toward a paragraph that had been crossed out. Read
ing the lines, I sighed. It was documentation of an emergency call Jess had made while she and her father were being chased. “This call was from Jess. Poor kid.”
“Yes, but look at this.” He pushed more papers toward me. He had highlighted dates and times all over the page.
“Okay, but I’ve no idea what I’m looking at.”
He jabbed a finger at the page. “Most of the calls were made in a specific post code, in a relatively small area north of Dublin, mostly from public phones in places like pubs or restaurants.”
“Didn’t anyone who picked up the emergency calls notice this at the time?”
“Lots of nightlife. So it’s a busy area.” He looked a little sick.
I took a seat. “So we’re thinking what, exactly?”
“That Seth used vampire volunteers to place the calls, and perhaps some of them were too lazy to leave the location they live in. The calls are clustered too close together to be a coincidence.”
“And if Seth meant it to be a sign? If he’s calling us to him?”
“We’ll go in daylight and talk to the volunteers of whichever coven runs the area. It’s a lead. It might be a poor one, but it’s still a lead.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Maybe Daimhín will have something by tonight.”
“I’ve had people looking out for Fionnuala’s assassins, anyone with those tattoos. It’s going to be hard to sort the real thing from bogus reports.”
“Not many people have seen the real thing.” I frowned. “I wish we could get our hands on Aiden.”
“He’s gone. He has no ties here. He has to have fled. The shifters have turned against him, even those who once helped to break him out of the Council’s jail cells. It would be too dangerous for him to stick around.”
“But Esther’s here. He thinks he can get back what he once had. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were still in the country. I don’t think he can leave behind the glory days so easily.”
“More fool him. He has a chance at a fresh start. Anyway, I’m almost finished. Sorry for taking over your kitchen.”