Daizlei Academy Omnibus Collection

by Kel Carpenter

  “They wouldn’t kill the Head of the Supernatural Council for that. Even if she had killed Kamarov, there has to be another reason. For them to want to get rid of her, she’d need to be—”

  “Without use,” I supplied. Johanna’s eyes slid sideways. Yes, she’d heard that phrase before.

  “Yes.”

  I looked away. How much do I say? Do I tell them about the darkness I see growing inside Lily? That she goaded Victor toward it, and he’s too blind to see? Would they want to save her if they knew that?

  I bit the inside of my cheek because I had to say something to at least point us in the right direction—even if it wasn’t the full truth. “Lily has noticed this growing fascination that Victor has with her,” I started slowly. “He mentioned that she was gifted to him from Anastasia as a wedding present.” I glanced at the ceiling, fighting the urge I had to vomit at the very idea of her being murdered and then enslaved as a gift. “But that his fiancé lied to him. They were getting married so that Anastasia had the numbers to secure her reign as a Queen instead of just the Head of Council. She wanted more power, and he wanted breeding stock that could give him babies.”

  “Anastasia was infertile,” Alec cut in. Every head turned to face him, all but one. Blair kept her icy demeanor about her. She watched the fire behind me and nothing else. I wondered if that was because staring at anything else might trigger her demon, or if she really just didn’t want to see the looks on their faces after her episode today.

  “And you know this how?” I asked, turning my attention back to him.

  “Because he was once her right-hand man,” Jo answered. Alec nodded, pushing off the wall to come stand behind the long couch. His golden hair and tanned skin had seen better days. While his eyes still shined, the rest of him had lost its luster.

  “Over a year ago she had me pick up and drop off some tests. I was bound to secrecy as long as she was alive, so it didn’t matter much if I knew what they were for.” He shrugged, but the tension in his jaw told me this was a harder conversation to have than he made it out to be.

  “And the High Council?” Ash asked. “Do you know anything about her deal with them?”

  Alec shook his head. “That was something she kept from even me. I knew she was meeting with them, but I was barred from being in the same room.”

  I nodded. Their group fell into a troubled kind of silence. The kind not born from awkwardness or stunned realizations, but because we were at a loss. What do you do when the endgame changes? When you’re no longer fighting a battle against one person, but a war against thousands?

  “What about Lucas?”

  I had to work at keeping my face schooled in neutrality. Tori pushed away from the couch, and Alexandra moved aside from the spot on the floor where she rested against the girl’s legs.

  “What about him?” I asked carefully.

  “If Anastasia really is gone and he wasn’t just spoutin’ off, shouldn’t he be released?”

  No one wanted to answer her. Least of all me because there was no way in Hell I was letting his ass walk free until I got what I wanted.

  Johanna saved me from having to break that news.

  “We still can’t determine how much of his actions were his and how many were influenced for Anastasia,” she said softly. She must have understood how difficult this situation was on all of us, and that no matter Tori’s wishes, there was no way he could walk out of here until this was all over. If at all. “He’ll need to remain guarded until I have the chance to properly question him.”

  Tori said nothing, but the purse of her lips made her thoughts abundantly clear. I couldn’t blame her. I was in a dangerously similar situation with my own sister.

  “I need to know what he did every minute of every day he was with her. I need to know where they went, when they were there, who they met with, and if he ever saw Lily at any point.”

  “Some of us also have people missing too, you know,” Scarlett muttered under her breath. Resentment coated her tone.

  “Yes, and if your brother was also turned and being led down the path my sister is you would do everything in your power to find him. Would you not?”

  The set of her chin was stubborn, but there was a vulnerability in her eyes that said she would do exactly that. For her twin, she would do anything.

  “I will help you get your sister back, but I want an oath that you will help me find out what happened to Sebastian and my parents.” I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat.

  “We’ll find out what happened to them, and if they’re alive in some capacity . . . we’ll fight for them too.” Scarlett gave me a level-eyed stare, and I think it was one of the first times she regarded me without a hint of contempt.

  “Then we have an agreement.” Scarlett dipped her chin, and I did the same. An uneasy alliance. Wasn’t that all we’d ever had, though? Alliances built on hope for a better future. Oaths traded for things that may never come to pass.

  “I don’t mean to sound like an ass here, but even if we find out where your sister is, we don’t have the firepower to do anything about it,” Alec pointed out. “There’s ten of us and thousands of them. Not to mention that the Supernatural Council is wide open for someone to attempt to seize it. As soon as news spreads of Anastasia, there are going to be two groups of people. Those who want to use this to rise to power, and those who want the entire Council—as well as its laws—abolished. No matter what each of us individually thinks of that, we can’t allow it while the Supernatural seats at Court are vacated. The Court has been making the laws for the paranormal community for thousands of years, and if they don’t exist then there is nothing to keep the Vampires in check from openly attacking people. Not to mention, more power hungry Supes from using their abilities on humans to get ahead.” He was right. He was absolutely, one hundred percent correct. Anastasia was only a piece of what we were now going to face if the unseen government of the paranormal community started to collapse.

  “What are you suggesting we do in the meantime?” I asked. “As you’ve pointed out, there’s only ten of us. We lack the information to even know where or how to make our next move.” I ran one hand through my hair, pacing back and forth as I thought aloud. “We’re sitting ducks. Meanwhile, the High Council is finding a way to use this against us. They’re going to have to do something once word gets out.”

  “Then we make the first move.” My head whipped toward Blair who had silently moved farther from the group. She now stood in front of the window by the fireplace, looking to the sky. I wondered if she could feel the wind and the water around us, the same as I felt all matter.

  “And what do you suggest that is?” Oliver asked.

  “Swear her in.” Blair nodded toward me. I froze on the spot. “Swear them both in,” her gaze flicked between me to Alexandra. My sister froze, and it was only the stillness in her that clued me to her surprise. “It only takes three houses to do it, and we have four. The only reason the Council stopped swearing outsiders in was because the Fortescues responded by killing them and their Houses into extinction. There’s only two Fortescues alive now, and both have enough power to hold their seats should it ever be contested. Establish them as representatives and find allies. Without Anastasia, there is no reason to solely focus on Selena when Alexandra is just as capable. This is all our fight, and we all have our parts to play.” She paused, and there was a wintery chill to what she said next. Something that carried more weight than anything else said in this room tonight. “Something is coming, something big . . . and we’re going to need all the help we can get if we want to survive it. We don’t have to be friends. We don’t have to agree on what happens after this.” She looked away from the window, and I swear she saw straight into my soul. That she knew what burden was sitting on my shoulders. “But some of the most powerful people in the world are in this room right now. I can’t help but feeling like some force brought us together. Call it fate. Call it the ancients. I don’t really care, but I wil
l die before I let those bloodsucking bastards take over the world.”

  There was a dangerous kind of light in her eyes. It was the sort of spark that started revolutions and fed rebellions. Goosebumps broke across my flesh as one by one the rest of the room nodded.

  Scarlett, Liam, Oliver, and Johanna all got to their feet. Their faces set in hard resolve. I wondered if one day I would look back and ask myself how it was that children were having to become adults, because all the adults were dead or evil, and the world asked it of us. Demanded it from us. I wasn’t sure if I would live to wonder when the price for a new future was so much more than they realized.

  I locked eyes with Ash and didn’t once look away as I was sworn in. If someone asked me even a day later I probably couldn’t remember a single word spoken. Only the feeling in the pit of my stomach like this was it.

  The beginning of the end.

  Chapter 141

  My lips twisted into a grimace at the footsteps coming down the hall. They were far too quick to be a guard or someone reporting to Ash, and too loud to be anyone that was staying in the en suite. Which left only one person.

  The doorknob turned, and I braced myself as the wooden panels banged against the larger bookcases. A volume or two fell out, toppling to the feet of the girl responsible.

  After a night of doing everything in my power to avoid sleeping, I didn’t have the energy to engage with her beyond asking, “What can I do for you, Keyla?”

  She narrowed her eyes at me and flicked her long braid over her shoulder, attempting to appear standoffish. She cocked her hip to the side and crossed her arms over her chest. “Where have you been the last three days?”

  “Busy.” The strain in my voice and dark circles under my eyes should have been evident of that. No one had ever accused her of being particularly observant.

  “Busy avoiding me?” she shot back. Johanna and Oliver paused and looked up from the sofa across the room where they’d been talking.

  “Let’s take this to another—” Johanna started. I raised my hand, waving her down. Unhooking my ankles, I dragged my legs over the side of the armchair to the floor and moved to stand.

  “You stay. Keyla and I will take a walk.”

  “What if I don’t want to walk with you?” she piped off. I snorted because I didn’t have the energy to laugh.

  “Tough shit,” I said, strolling past her. She followed. I knew she would. We made it as far as the railing on the second floor before her restraint snapped.

  “Where have you been? Why couldn’t I find you? I had to get my dad to tell me where you guys were—” I held up a hand as I pressed the button to summon the elevator. “Are you silencing me?”

  “I do believe that is what the hand gesture means, yes,” I replied. She opened her mouth, her brows furrowing in indignation as the elevator pinged. The doors slid open, and she let out a frustrated growl as we stepped in.

  Ground floor, I projected to the sentient magic that powered this thing. The doors slid shut, and her evil eye ensued.

  “I’m not avoiding you.”

  “Then what do you call moving your room so that I can’t find you—”

  “The room was trashed, Keyla.” She blinked as the elevator doors opened. I held out a hand, motioning for her to go first. She walked past me briskly and then turned to make sure I was following.

  “Yeah. So? Who trashed it?” she asked loudly as we walked past a huddled group of Shifters. They also gave me the side-eye, but it was for very different reasons. I turned my attention back to the hallway before me and to the girl at my side.

  “Not important. The point is we had to move rooms because it wasn’t fit to sleep in.” I wasn’t lying . . . well, not completely. The room was trashed from Ash and I’s claiming, and we had moved temporarily for it. But after everything that had happened, I was more comfortable staying closer to the others. Where I could keep an eye on Blair. Not that I would tell anyone else that. We all knew that she wasn’t stable, and one wrong move could end with hundreds dead.

  That was the power of Valda’s line. Our legacy.

  Keyla’s tromping pulled me back to the topic at hand: convincing a thirteen-year-old that I wasn’t avoiding her. Easier said than done when it was her own insecurities that fed that ideation.

  “Well—why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, using her body weight to lean against the metal bar. It popped in and the lock released, opening to the great outdoors of Carson, Nevada.

  “I’ve been a bit preoccupied.” I thought back on the last forty-eight hours. That was an understatement.

  “Too preoccupied to let me know you moved?” She raised her voice, and I shot her a warning look. Keyla scowled, and continued stomping beside me as we walked around the edge of the training field toward one of the trails.

  “Actually, yes, I was, and I’m not going to apologize for it. There are things going on right now, Keyla, and sometimes you won’t get hours with me every day.” Her bottom lip quivered. Her eyes shimmered. Goddamnit. Not the waterworks. I held in a groan as she looked away, trying to compose herself.

  “Did I do something wrong?” She kicked at the leaves as we walked. Melancholy taking hold.

  “No. You didn’t do anything,” I sighed. She stopped. Her golden eyes looked large and a little doll-like when they were glassy.

  “Then what is so important that it’s taking up all your time and you can’t hang out with me anymore?”

  “I never said we couldn’t hang out anymore,” I corrected.

  “But you implied it!” she shouted. The birds scattered in a flapping of wings and rustled tree branches.

  “No, I said we wouldn’t be able to spend hours a day together. Not that we couldn’t spend time together. Don’t put words in my mouth, Keyla White.” She pursed her lips and scrunched her eyebrows. If her death glare was meant to look scary, it failed miserably.

  “Don’t talk down to me, Selena Fortescue.”

  I froze, and she did the same. “What did you just say?” Leaves fell from the canopy, softly brushing against the wind on their way down. Keyla swallowed hard and looked away.

  “I’m sorry—I overheard you guys talking last night —”

  “So you were snooping,” I interrupted. She clenched her jaw but didn’t deny it.

  “I was listening—”

  “Clearly. For once I didn’t hear you coming half a mile away,” I scoffed. We continued walking deeper into the woods where even the mice scuttling was loud.

  “Ohmygawd”—she groaned loudly—“you know what?”

  “I know a lot of whats, you’ll need to be more specific,” I replied dryly despite the heavy press of exhaustion. A slow but steady pain was beginning to build in my right temple. It was the makings of a tension headache caused by too many hours awake, too much caffeine, and an all-consuming worry that despite my best efforts, we would fail.

  I glanced away to hide my wince. A rustle of leaves caught my attention. I stilled.

  “Keyla.” She kept talking. “Keyla,” I repeated. Harder this time, an undercurrent of urgency bleeding into my voice as I wrapped my fingers around her upper arm and pulled her close.

  “What are you—” she broke off as her eyes went wide. A twig snapped right behind me, and I knew without looking that someone had moved into her vision. She shuffled closer, whether subconscious or not I couldn’t tell, but the hammering of her heart and stench of fear was unmistakable.

  My demon shifted anxiously. Whoever it was, she did not like them near Keyla. Especially when we could only hear two heartbeats.

  Leaves rustled again, masking the sound of footsteps. Without a beating heart or breathing lungs, it was easier to mistake the very slight brush of silent feet against the forest floor. The five bloodsuckers that stepped out from the trees in front of me were very real, though.

  A twig snapped behind me and I pulled Keyla closer, wrapping an arm around her waist. Her breathing sped up as she stared stock-still at whoever was b
ehind me.

  “You’re on Shifter territory without an invitation,” I said, making no effort to subdue my demon or the hostility in my tone. She would shield Keyla and rip them apart in the same breath if I let her.

  “We come on behalf of the High Council.” Several more Vampires moved through the trees behind me, backing the one who spoke. We were up to eleven now, and that assumed no more chose to show up.

  “Even stranger, considering that you and your buddies are jumping me in the woods and not setting up a proper meeting. Care to tell me why you’ve come?” I scaled back my hostility only a fraction. I wasn’t worried for me, but another half dozen were making their way toward us. That brought the number of assailants up to seventeen, and I had Keyla in tow. Keyla, who I was ninety percent certain would not be much help in a fight with the undead.

  “The Dark Prince wishes to speak with you.” The paper-thin whisper of vocal cords that had been forced to endure too many years was telling. While those facing me were Made, I had suspicions about the one speaking and the way he blatantly ignored what I’d said.

  I took my arm away from Keyla’s shoulder, and she reached out, wrapping her shaking hands in my T-shirt. Her eyes pleaded silently as they swiveled from the Vampire to me.

  “Let go,” I whispered. She shook her head slightly, like the Vampires wouldn’t see. “Do you trust me?” My lips were no more than a hairsbreadth from the skin of her cheek. She stared at me for a full fifteen seconds before nodding.

  I grabbed her hand and lowered it to my waist—to the cold, hard, metal that sat there. Her fingers wrapped around the handle, and she pulled the dagger from its sheath. Then she turned around, and the metal in her hand—while probably useless against this many—gave her confidence.