“They’re strong.”
“But people can be cruel.”
He looked at me. “They’ve been through worse.”
I nodded. We all had. Everyone in the country had gone through something huge together. Maybe people would respect the werewolves as the race who had saved us all when it came to the BVA’s attack on our country.
Later that night, we returned to the cul-de-sac with the werewolves, much to the excitement and apprehension of almost everyone there.
Chapter Twenty-Three
There was still no sign of Eddie, so we maintained a presence on the streets, wiping out assassins and defusing whatever arguments spilled out into violence.
We headed to the next meeting at the Headquarters, but when we arrived, nobody could get inside because the way was blocked by magic, just like at the children’s home. A number of supernatural creatures got into arguments as tempers rose.
“Oh, shit,” I said. “What do we do?”
“I’ll take the werewolves and see if we can find a way inside,” Phoenix said. “They won’t be any use as long as their mates are trapped underground.”
Icarus let out a tremendous howl as if in response to the statement.
“Go ahead,” I said. “Probably better to keep them out of the way. We’ll try to cool things down here and see if anybody knows anything.”
“I’ll find Elathan and organise the Guardians to ask questions,” Gabe said. “Esther, Aiden, come with me.”
That left me with Peter. “I suppose we should be ready to fight,” I said.
“You up for that?” he asked. “How are the injuries?”
“Better. Getting better.”
“You should drink—”
“I know!”
He stepped away with a frown. “Carl told me what you did to Nancy.”
“I don’t want a lecture, thanks.”
“I think you did a good thing.”
I stared at him suspiciously. “Carl thinks I’m a monster.”
“He’s afraid you’ll do the same thing to him. I mean, you could, but you would suck.”
“Phoenix won’t ever help me again,” I said with a sigh. “He has what he wants. He doesn’t need me now.”
“What’s the story with him? Seems like everything’s changed since I left.”
“That’s because it has,” I said, walking toward a group in a particularly vehement argument in case I needed to step in.
“You’ve barely spoken to me since I got back.”
“I don’t know what to say anymore.”
He reached for my hand. I stared at his fingers against mine, baffled by the way it felt familiar and strange, by the way I felt so differently about everything. I had experienced dark days because Peter had left, and he was back, yet I couldn’t seem to muster any enthusiasm.
“Peter, I—” A shiver ran down my spine, but my brain caught up to my instincts a little too late.
A hush fell over the crowd. I glanced to my right to see dark figures heading my way. They weren’t what scared me. But the vampire leading them made me nervous.
Reuben was pissed. I could taste his anger, bubbling and vibrant, wild and black. I had once felt a vampire’s presence roll over me, what I thought had been an invasion of my mind of sorts. It had really been his emotions, strong and clear, and that was what I felt running across my skin as Reuben came closer.
His anger and resentment melded together and seared my skin with his darkness. He wanted all of us dead, but especially me. For some reason, I was the beacon for his rage. He would take it out on me.
“Hold on a minute,” I called to the ancient vampire. “The werewolves will destroy you, even if you manage to kill me. It’s not my fault you chose the wrong side, you ignorant prick.”
His stride turned into a run, and although I tried to move out of the way, Reuben clipped my ankle, and I face-planted to the earth with a moan of pain.
“I’ll get Phoenix!” Peter yelled.
I realised he wasn’t the only one getting out of the way. The arguments had stopped, and the supernaturals were backing away. The assassins with Reuben stood there as if waiting their turns.
Reuben growled and grunted and made inhuman sounds, but he didn’t deign to speak with me. He leapt on top of me before I could get a good grip on the dagger. His terrible eyes scowled down at me, and he wrapped his fingers around my neck, lifting me with one hand.
I struggled against his grip, my feet swinging ineffectually. I held my breath, gripped Reuben’s arms, and used my weight to swing my body and kick the ancient vampire in the stomach. It didn’t hurt him, but his grip loosened, and I managed to wriggle free. I kicked him, blocked his attacks, and fought as hard as I could, but I was panting, and it all seemed too easy for him. He was playing with me, teasing me until he was ready to end my life.
“Enough!” Daimhín ordered.
I never thought I’d be so relieved to hear a vampire queen’s voice. Reuben’s upper lip curled, revealing more of his fangs. He whirled around, taking advantage of my hesitation to grip me to his chest, the tips of his fangs pressing against my jugular.
“Are you a complete idiot?” Daimhín asked. “You have no clue what will happen if she dies.”
“Do you care?” he asked, pulling away from me slightly. “Do you wish it to live?”
“I want to live,” she said. “Her death could end us all. I’m not prepared to take the risk. If you were going to attack this one, you should have done it while I was away.”
“I didn’t expect you to return,” he said, his fingernails digging into my skin. “But you were always more irritating than smart.”
“Let her go,” she said, “and I’ll reconsider your punishment.”
“You’ll reconsider…? How generous of you. I’ll reconsider torturing you to death when I’m finished here.”
She laughed softly, reaching out and yanking Rose to her. Rose had a smug look on her face as Daimhín sank her teeth into the woman’s neck. Daimhín was efficient; the colour drained from Rose’s cheeks within seconds. My previous ideas that she might actually care about a human had been way off.
Reuben shoved me to the ground and ran at Daimhín. She dropped Rose’s body just in time to meet Reuben’s attack. The force of their collision made the earth tremble beneath me. I considered crawling over to Rose, but her heart had stopped. There was nothing I could do for her, and she had made her choices a long time ago.
I watched, fascinated, as Daimhín tore lumps of flesh from Reuben with her nails and teeth. She didn’t stop, and there was a huge flurry of movement as he desperately tried to fight back. Her coven watched solemnly until the assassins decided to join the fight.
The violence that ensued was breath-taking. I blinked at the severity of the destruction, unable to comprehend the cruelty and sadism.
Phoenix returned with the werewolves, but Daimhín’s well-fed vampires had already done a chunk of the work. The final few were destroyed in an eerie silence. Daimhín was struggling in Reuben’s grip, his larger hands threatening to snap her neck. Zion ran over so fast he startled me.
“Get away,” Daimhín hissed. “This one is less than nothing.”
Reuben laughed and licked a deep scratch on her cheek. She could have helped herself, but I wanted it to be over, so I ran over and stabbed him in the back with my dagger. I relished the way he burned and blew away into nothing.
Daimhín eyed the dagger warily. “I suppose you expect me to thank you.”
“I’m not holding my breath.” I glanced back at Rose. “I really thought you cared about her.”
“Who? The human? She was food, Delaney. Haven’t you learned a thing?” She brushed herself off and returned to her coven, turning her nose up in disgust at the bodies as if she hadn’t just been rolling in the dirt with Reuben.
“Doesn’t look like it,” I said, following her to Zion, the bodyguard she apparently didn’t need. “How come you came back?”
She frowned. “I’m not going to let some upstart declare themselves in charge while I’m gone. And that includes you.”
I screwed up my face. “I don’t want to be in charge of anyone, least of all your vampires.”
“More fool you.” She stared at the blocked entrance. “I take it the meeting’s off?”
“For now. We think Eddie’s up to something… dodgy.”
She licked blood from the corner of her mouth. “Yes. We need to talk about this. I’ll come to see you later. I have to speak to somebody first.” She swept away before I could reply.
“What was that about?” Peter asked, moving to my side.
“I’m to expect a visit from the queen,” I replied.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Phoenix stayed with the werewolves at Headquarters while Gabe took the rest of us home. I let other people tell what had happened. I was too busy thinking about Eddie while I waited for Daimhín to turn up, so I took a shower, but nothing cleared my head.
The speculation was a constant murmuring, and the noise level had increased along with the number of people in the cul-de-sac. I couldn’t wait for it all to be over. I wanted to find a little peace again.
Carl called up the stairs while I brushed tangles out of my hair, soothing myself with something normal. I wearily headed down to the living room.
“Cars just pulled up,” he said.
“Yeah. I’ll head out. Hopefully, this won’t take too long.”
I went outside, but I didn’t have the energy to wear my own mask, the one that gave me licence to say whatever ancient beings didn’t want to hear. I could barely stand up straight; I felt so exhausted. All of the fighting was getting us nowhere. The children were trapped, and most of the werewolves were, too. I couldn’t help thinking we had been kept busy so all of that could happen.
Daimhín got out of the first car, holding Eloise and practically dragging her over to me.
“Hi,” I said.
The vampire queen looked taken aback. “Is that it? No insults or threats or— ”
“If you want to play games, go elsewhere. I don’t have the time or the patience right now.”
Daimhín considered me for a couple of seconds before nodding. “Let’s speak frankly then. Eddie Brogan is a tricky man. His prejudices run deeper than anyone’s, and he’s the most vengeful person I’ve ever met.”
“But you made deals with him.”
“I’ve made deals with everyone,” she said scornfully. “We do what’s best for us at any given time. This book of his contains the darkest magic that exists. Forbidden magic. He figured out how to change things somehow. Figured out how to break down the wall between the worlds. Nothing good can come from his actions now. He wants the dead to roam free. He’s willing to do anything it takes to accomplish this.”
“But why?”
She smiled. “All of the worst fanatics do what they do for love and devotion, and he’s no different.”
“How do you know?”
“We’ve come across each other many times over the years. The deal he’s been paying for was time alone with Eloise. I didn’t expect her to tell him anything useful.” She glared at the child vampire. “Tell her what you told me.”
Eloise blinked a couple of times and rubbed the tip of her nose. “I tell what needs to be known. He needed to see faces, so I showed them to him. I showed him a fallen angel, a vengeful father, a natural witch, and a tainted monster. I showed him three paths, and he made his choice from those.”
“What does that mean?” I demanded.
“The angel could be corrupted. The father needed to be saved. The monster desired a family. And the witch wanted power only he could give. One by one, the pieces fell, and he put them back together.”
“So what’s next?” I asked. “What’s Eddie going to do?”
“Use them all,” she said, cocking her head. “I wonder which path Yvonne chose.”
I frowned. “What?”
Eloise grabbed my wrist and yanked me forward. Daimhín whirled and stopped a dagger—my dagger—with the palm of her hand. The skin blistered around the wound, but she didn’t make a sound. She reached out with her other hand, grabbed Yvonne’s hair and twisted, breaking the woman’s neck. The body fell painfully slowly, and all I could do was stare open-mouthed.
Daimhín held out her injured hand to me. “Yours, I assume.”
I gazed at the dagger in shock.
“Take it,” she urged. “It’s quite painful.”
I held onto her wrist as I yanked the dagger free. “What in the actual fuck just happened?”
“I was attacked. It died. I returned your dagger. Which part confused you?”
“I… this! How did she… why?”
“Humans often let their emotions lead them,” she said. “Eloise, I should punish you for not warning me.”
Eloise giggled. “You need the excitement.”
“You know what you need to know,” Daimhín said, and she prepared to walk away.
“Wait,” I said. “Do you know anything about the Eleven?”
She froze. “Ah. That explains a lot. Beware of old crones. Their deals tend to stick.”
She stepped over Yvonne’s body and strode to her car. Eloise skipped after her, but when she glanced back at me, I saw a more grown-up, vampire-like expression on her face.
I didn’t realise my hands were shaking until the twins joined me.
“You should come inside,” Lorcan said. “Peter can deal with this.”
“Peter?” I whispered. I turned and saw him standing in my doorway, a grim look on his face. I ran before Lorcan could stop me, knocking Peter down and banging his head against the floor. “You fucking prick!”
Somebody hauled me off him, but I swung my legs in an attempt to kick his head off his shoulders.
“You gave it to her!” I screamed. “You took my weapon. My weapon! She could have blamed me. She could have turned on us all. What the fuck were you thinking?”
Carl helped Peter to his feet while Lorcan attempted to restrain me.
Peter spat blood out of his mouth from where I had managed to kick him. “I knew the vampires wouldn’t dare. Daimhín wouldn’t let Reuben kill you. I knew she wouldn’t do it herself either. And you’re not that good a liar, Ava. It would have been obvious to her.”
“So you let her kill Emmett’s aunt? Are you fucking stupid?”
He had the grace to look slightly ashamed. “We all have our deals. Right? It’s not like you’ve told me everything.” He shrugged Carl off him. “You either.”
I shook my head. “Are you fucking kidding me? We didn’t tell you something that you can’t even remember! That we’re not even sure of! We didn’t get anyone killed, especially not Emmett’s aunt! I just… I don’t understand you!”
He reached out to me. “Ava, I’m sorry. I didn’t tell you first because I knew you’d protect her. Yvonne wanted her revenge, and you took that from her when you lot killed everyone to do with the slave markets. Yvonne had to take her anger out on someone, and Daimhín had earned her hatred. I couldn’t talk her out of it, and I didn’t own her, so I let her go.”
I yanked myself out of Lorcan’s arms. “Fuck you.”
I left the cul-de-sac to stalk up and down the road outside, still seeing the light leaving Yvonne’s eyes. I hadn’t saved her. I hadn’t even tried. I hadn’t even expected it to happen. I had been blindsided and confused. Daimhín would probably take revenge on me in other ways. And the things she had told me about Eddie hadn’t exactly been comforting either.
When Gabe joined me, I glared at him. “Don’t tell me I’m wrong.”
He held up his hands. “I wasn’t planning to.”
“I can’t do this, Gabe. I’m so sick of watching people die for nothing. Eloise told me that she showed Eddie faces and paths he could walk down. She made it sound like he set up all of us because he needed us for something.”
“Ava, you already knew that,” he said gently.<
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“No, but…” I shook my head. “I thought I could avoid it. I always knew he was off in some way. I always knew I shouldn’t trust him, but I wanted to. I wanted to trust him so badly that it hurts now to think that I’m the one who has to go against him. He knows things I’ll never understand, and I don’t know how I’m going to do this.”
He put his arm around my shoulders. We stood together awkwardly for a few seconds before I stepped neatly out of his way.
“Oh, thank God,” he said.
“Yeah. You’re not really a natural at the whole comforting thing.”
We both laughed, and it felt strange.
“He’s going to use the werewolves and the children,” I whispered. “Somehow, he’s going to do that, and Marina is going to help him. All I have is a dagger that burns vampires. How am I supposed to win?”
“You’re not alone,” he said. “That’s the difference. Maybe my people and Eddie set up a path for you, a way for you to reach this point, but so what? You still get to say what you do next. You still get to choose. They might have set up the markers, but you took the steps. You chose this life, and you’ll keep choosing because that’s the kind of person you are.”
He rested his hands on my shoulders and looked at me sternly. “You don’t get to give up, I’m afraid. Not because of the rest of us, but because you would never forgive yourself later. You’re going to do what you always do: the best you can with what you have, except you have a lot more now than you ever did.”
He patted my head and walked away, and not for the first time, I felt a slight warmth toward him, the hint of an idea that he wasn’t the cold shithead I usually expected when I saw him. He was the only connection to my mother, and he had made things a lot easier for us, even though it made things harder for him. Maybe some fallen angels were like Cam, but maybe more of them deserved the second chance they sought.
Feeling a little cheered, I headed back into the cul-de-sac. My house was conspicuously empty, but I hadn’t been indoors for five minutes when the door opened. Nobody spoke about what was happening, and as the conversations filled the room, I dozed off in a chair, happy about the one truth Gabe had shown me. It didn’t matter what we did wrong. As long as we had each other, there was still hope.