by Kelly Oram
“Why are you even telling me this? Aren’t you the head of the guardians? Wouldn’t that mean you are on your way to capture me right now?”
“I am, and I will do my job if I have to, but what they’ve ordered me to do is wrong. I figured giving you a head start would clear my conscience and still allow me to do my job. Russ. Please, get yourself out of town and to safety.”
He was way too upset. There was more to this than he was telling me. “What exactly are your orders, Duncan?”
He sighed again, and then spoke in the gravest voice I’ve ever heard. “The guardians mean to capture Dani, Gabriel, Ethan, and Grace, but we’ve been ordered to kill you…and anyone besides the four of them who try to stand in their way. The Layton children, Simone’s daughter, Ethan’s mom, anyone…they have all been deemed acceptable collateral damage.”
I almost dropped my phone. “Excuse me?”
“The council is terrified of you, Russ. They want the threat you pose eliminated, and they want it done no matter the cost.”
Somewhere in my brain I’d known this would happen, but having it confirmed sent my heart racing with fear. Anger ripped through me until my mind opened to the influence of Beelzebub. My father was right. The council had to be stopped. “Let them come,” I growled.
“Russ.” Duncan sounded downright scared now. “You don’t understand. They’ve gathered a small army. You won’t be able to stop them.”
I laughed at that. It was hard to believe anything could stop me with the kind of power I had running through my body. “No, it’s you who doesn’t understand,” I said. “You have no idea who I really am. I have power even Dani couldn’t stop. Your pathetic army won’t know what hit them. You’d better call them off, because if they come after me, I will obliterate them. I will kill each and every one of them. Then, once the guardians are out of the way, I will go after the council next, and then the resistance. I will kill every single supernatural in the world if I have to, until there is no one left to oppose me.”
“Russ,” a soft voice whispered as a hand squeezed mine. “Snap out of it. Keep control of yourself.”
After I came back to myself, I was startled that I’d lost control so easily. I’d started that conversation thinking only about defending my friends. I’m not sure where the threat on the council and the resistance had come from, but once it was out of my mouth, I’d known it was true. And I’d had every confidence that I would deliver on my word. I wanted to.
“Russ?” Duncan’s voice was suddenly small and unsure. “What’s happened to you?”
I knew the answer was Beelzebub, but what I said was, “You happened! The day you showed up and took Dani from me. The council happened. Simone and the resistance happened! Even my own father! Especially my father. Everyone keeps screwing me over. I AM INNOCENT! More than that—I am good! The devil himself accused me of having the purest heart he’s ever seen, and yet the council has so easily ordered my death. Tell me, Duncan, why should I fight so hard against my destiny when everyone thinks I’m a monster anyway? Why should I sacrifice so much to protect a world that doesn’t deserve it? We can all go to Hell together, for all I care anymore.”
“Russ, you don’t mean that,” Clara said while Duncan asked, “What do you mean, your destiny?”
“You figure it out,” I grumbled, and then ended the call.
Duncan tried to call me right back, but I ignored him and instead dialed Ethan. I was surprised when he didn’t answer. I tried Grace next, and she didn’t pick up, either. Clara called them both as well, and met my worried gaze when they still didn’t pick up. It was possible that they were just having a serious Calm Gracie Down conversation because I hadn’t gone home with them, and they didn’t hear their phones, but I doubted it. I couldn’t shake the bad feeling in my stomach.
Without word, we ran the rest of the way home. The house was dark and locked. Ethan, Grace, and my dad were long gone. I called both Ethan and Grace again. “Maybe their phones are dead,” Clara whispered.
She sounded about as confident in that idea as I was, but I didn’t contradict her. “Maybe. Let’s go get Dani and Gabe and get out of here.”
Clara nodded and headed for the motorcycle while I ran the short distance up the street to Dani’s house. Nobody was home there, either, but Dani picked up her phone on the second ring. “Miss me already?” she teased.
I didn’t spare any time for fun and games. “Where are you?”
“On our way back to Washington, D.C. We left about half an hour ago. Why?”
“Do you have Gabe and your parents with you?”
She finally responded to the urgency in my voice. “Of course. What’s wrong?”
Gabe said something in the background that I couldn’t quite make out, and then Dani switched me over to speakerphone. “What’s going on, Russ?”
“You can’t go to Washington. The council’s gathered a small army and sent them to D.C. The entire guard, plus any of the council’s clans and buddies. They’ve got scryers looking for us and hunters canvassing the entire city, trying to track us. They’ve probably got alarm and trap spells up all over the city, too. If you go back, you’ll be walking straight into an ambush.”
“How have you come to have this knowledge?” That was Gabe, of course. Who else would sound like an uptight dorkwad even in the midst of a life-and-death crisis? “Danielle and I have had no visions of any such danger.”
“Well, that’s because you’re not in danger yet, are you? I’m warning you.”
“Yes, and I am grateful. But how—“ He gasped. “You know who the mole is.”
“Oh, dude! Russ! Tell me! We’ve been going crazy trying to figure out who the traitor in the council is.”
Oh, yeah. That’s right. Way back when we’d gone head to head with the council last time, Dani had mentioned there was a spy or a leak in the council that was giving information to the resistance.
A million tiny puzzle pieces fell into place. Duncan. Duncan was the council’s mole, and I’d bet my life that he was the leader of the resistance, too. He’d been the one who’d helped me out every time I’d needed it. The guy was known for being a good guy, and I’d seen him bend the rules a number of times when he didn’t like the council’s decisions.
And then there was Simone. She’d been uncharacteristically loyal to whomever the leader of the resistance is. She’s the only one who knows for sure who it is, and she’d take his identity to the grave. It was almost as if she were blindly devoted to whoever was ordering her around. Like she was bound by an immortal blood bond. Which would also explain why her magic was so powerful. Even Clara couldn’t best her when she’d been bonded to Andrew and used immortal magic.
Simone had to be Duncan’s patroness, and Duncan had to be the leader of the resistance. The subtle jerk was a genius. The dude had his hands so far in the cookie jar, he was neck deep and not a single person suspected him. No one would ever suspect him. Not that I wanted to be a member of the Duncan Moore Fan Club, but he’d just earned some serious respect from me. “That sly, sneaky, crafty, ingenious bloodsucker!”
“What?” Dani asked again.
“It’s Duncan.”
“No freaking way!”
“It cannot be. Duncan is head of the guardians. His loyalty is unquestionable.”
“Oh, I’m sure of it. He’s the one who tipped me off just now, and he totally took a fall to help us escape back at the consulate. Not to mention he kept Grace a secret for us this entire time, no questions asked. He was even the one who snuck me into the consulate the first time I broke you guys out. It’s totally him. He’s not just your mole—I bet you a million dollars he’s the leader of the resistance, and Simone is his patroness.”
“Russ!” Clara shouted anxiously from the curb where she was waiting for me on the motorcycle. “Let’s go!”
She was right. “Look, I’ve got to get moving. Do you remember how to get to my other house? The one in New Jersey that I took you guys to last tim
e?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Good. The place is warded like crazy. No one will be able to track you there. Go there and wait for us. We’ll get there as soon as we can; then we’ll come up with a better plan.”
I was being vague on purpose, but Dani wasn’t stupid. “Why do you sound like you’re up to something?”
Why, oh why could I never lie to Dani? “Ethan and Grace aren’t answering their phones. They had a good three-hour head start on us, so they shouldn’t be there yet, but they should be answering my calls. I have to go find them.”
“Then we’ll come,” Dani said, just as I knew she would.
“Dani, you can’t. You’re the ones they want to take.”
“You’re the one they want dead! You need my help, Russ.”
Rachel whimpered in the background, making both Dani and I calm down instantly. This had to be some welcome to the supernatural world. “I’ve got Clare Bear, and I’ll have Ethan as soon as we find him.” I tried to sound as reassuring as possible for Rachel’s and John’s sakes. “Plus, Duncan’s on our side. I’ll call him and the other resistance members to give them a heads up. We’ll be okay. It’s better if you keep Gabe and your parents safe. We’ll meet you there soon.”
I hung up before she could argue, and just had to pray she’d listen. She was stubborn as a mule and pigheaded to boot, but she had Gabe and her parents with her. I had to bank on the fact that she’d want to keep them safe.
“You think she’s going to listen?” Clara asked as I climbed onto the bike behind her.
“Dani’s parents drive like Miss Daisy. I think we need to break the sound barrier all the way back so that we can find Grace and Ethan and get out of there before Dani has time to not listen. Which I’m pretty sure is what she intends to do.”
Clara handed me the extra helmet and grinned as she flipped the visor down on her own helmet. “I’ll do my best. Hang on tight. And if you give me another hickey, I’ll do the guardians’ job for them.”
I was too worried about Ethan and Grace to argue with her. I had no desire to kiss her. Heck, I was grateful I had no memory of the first time I’d done it. I’d have nightmares if I did. I didn’t even want to have to be on the bike with her. But I had no other options. Since it was easier to be near her when I was touching her skin, I slid my hands around her stomach like the night before. Hey, I could use all the charging up of my essence as I could get before I had to battle the guardians. Her only response was a shiver, and then she gunned the bike forward, covering us with a cloaking spell so that we could travel as fast as possible without having to worry about cops.
Clara was quite possibly insane. Or maybe she had a death wish. She tried to take me literally about that whole breaking the sound barrier thing. But I still had my life and we made it to D.C. in record time, so I didn’t comment on her psycho driving skills.
I’d tried to call Ethan and Grace a million more times over the last few hours, but neither of them ever answered. I was seriously spooked. Obviously there was a problem, but had the council gotten them and locked them up, or had they managed to escape capture and go into hiding? I had no way of knowing.
First, we went to Ethan’s house. Leslie wasn’t answering her phone, either, and considering the council knew where Ethan lived, I didn’t like that she wasn’t picking up. She was an amazingly capable nephilim, and I’m sure Ethan had given her a heads up after we left the consulate, but she couldn’t take on the whole of the guardians by herself.
We rolled up to Ethan’s house just after 11 p.m. The posh neighborhood was dark and quiet. Everything looked absolutely normal—even Ethan’s house, which had a light glowing in the front window—but I wasn’t fooled. If the guardians weren’t here already, they would be soon. And given the time of night, with most of the humans in for the evening, and the cover of darkness, the guardians would be bolder than normal, even on the open street.
Clara and I stayed cloaked until we came inside and found Leslie sitting on her couch. The glow through the front window had been the light of the television. “Thank the Creator,” I muttered, dropping my cloaking spell.
“Russ!” Leslie’s face paled. “It’s a trap. The council came looking for you guys. Mason and Vanderhousen magically bound me to the couch. They’re watching the house. You’ve got to go.”
“I’m sure they are, but I’m not leaving you here.”
I closed my eyes and concentrated on the magic wrapped around Leslie. I’d learned how to shake off a binding spell, but it’s extremely hard to do. It’s like being wrapped in a giant ball of rubber bands. You have to pull the rubber bands away from whatever they’re holding far enough to make them snap. The stronger the magic user that placed the binding, the harder it is to burst the bands. You lose your magical grip on the spell, and it snaps right back into place. It also gives you a big-time magical smackdown each time you try to break it and fail—a sort of magical backlash. You break it, though, and it wallops the spell caster real good, no matter if they’re standing there or not.
“What happened? Where’re Ethan and Grace? The council said the Chosen One and the Seer left with you?”
I was concentrating too hard on the binding spell wrapped around Leslie to answer her questions, so Clara took the liberty. “When they found out that Grace was the Ungifted One and that Ethan was her warrior, they tried to lock them up. We had to fight our way out. We were safe, but we all split up this afternoon, and now Ethan and Grace are gone. They should have been here hours ago, but they aren’t answering their phones and Cynthia says they never made it to resistance headquarters. No one has heard from them for hours. We’re worried the council caught up with them. We sent Dani and Gabe to a safe place, and we need to meet them there as soon as we find Ethan and Grace. Then we need to come up with a plan to either disappear forever, or stop the council once and for all, because they are never going to give up.”
After failing for a third time to lift the binding from Leslie, I nearly collapsed. I’d broken out into a sweat, and was breathing as if I’d just sprinted a marathon. I hated to admit defeat, especially to Clara, but we had to get Leslie out of there. My pride wasn’t important right then. “I can’t do it. It’s too strong. They must have combined their magic.”
“Leave me,” Leslie insisted. “They won’t hurt me. They’re just using me to get you and Ethan to come in. Go find Ethan and Grace, and get yourselves to safety.”
I didn’t mean to glare at the woman who’d taken me into her home and treated me like a son, but I was tired, under a lot of pressure, and knowing that we shared the same connection with Michael made it impossible for me to leave without her. “Not an option!” I snapped. “Clara! Give me your hand. We’ll have to do this together.”
Clara was startled, but didn’t hesitate to slip her fingers into mine. “You think this will work? Can a witch and a warlock share magic?”
“They must have to create this binding, otherwise I’d be able to break it. I’m a freaking Devereaux. Neither of them is stronger than me. Now shut up, and concentrate on the binding.”
“Yes, sir,” Clara muttered sarcastically as she narrowed her eyes on Leslie.
I focused on the binding spell again, unraveling the bands of magic from Leslie one at a time. As the spell weakened, I felt the strain of it start to press down on me, and pulled energy from Clara’s hand.
As if she could feel what I was doing, Clara pushed her magic toward me. She was so much more powerful than I’d been expecting. So much more powerful than even her aura suggested. She’d been hiding her strength somehow, but it was as if my pull drew it out of her. It was so much more than either of us had anticipated, and we were both brought to our knees from the shock of it.
“Russ!” Leslie cried. “Clara? What’s happening? Are you all right?”
“Dang, Clara!” I gasped. “What are you, the freaking Energizer Bunny of magic?”
Clara grunted her response as she concentrated. “Told you
I was stronger than you.”
“Yeah, yeah, remind me to argue that with you once we’re safe.”
With all the added power, the council’s binding spell shattered easily, knocking Clara and I both over when the resistance evaporated. “Nice job.” Clara panted as she pulled herself to her feet. “I bet that was a nasty shock for the two of them.”
I smirked. “Yeah. Wish I could have seen the looks on their faces. Let’s get out of here before I get my wish.”
By the time Clara and I were on our feet and had caught our breaths, Leslie was standing in front of us, wearing a weapons belt filled with daggers and throwing knives, and sheathing a pair of gleaming Samurai swords—her weapon of choice—across her back. She met my gaze with a sharp nod. “Ready.”
It took me a minute to snap out of my surprise. I always knew Leslie had been trained in the ways of the nephilim, but I’d never seen her look or act the part since she’d shunned the life after being kicked out of her clan. A grin stretched so wide across my face that my cheeks hurt. I might have been a little starstruck, but come on, Samurai swords, people! She totally earned the title of Most Badass Mom Ever. Cynthia gives me so much crap for fangirling over the nephilim, but I don’t even care. Aside from warlocks, nephilim are the coolest supernaturals out there. Seeing my awed expression, Leslie’s face softened and she winked.
Clara went over to the door and cursed as she peeked outside. “Uh, guys? I think we’re going to have a problem.”
Leslie and I glanced out the window and could see at least a dozen auras lighting up the street. “I have a feeling they’ve called for backup,” Clara muttered. “We’d better get out of here before there are fifty of them.”
“You shield us. I’ll cloak us. All we have to do is make it to the motorcycle and take off.” I glanced at Leslie. “Your wings still work?”
In a flash, I was bathed in a heavenly glow. Leslie gave her long, white wings a stretch and smiled at me. “It’s been a while, but it’s like riding a bike. I’m sure I can manage.”
