“We could use our magic to take us anywhere, Grace. Half an hour in a five-star penthouse? We’d be back before they even left for Switzerland?” I held Sam’s hands away from my body as I gave him a final kiss. Sam groaned as he lifted me off his lap and set me on my feet. “If we get caught by the High Council today, just remember; you could have been in a hotel with me.”
The lurch in my stomach as our bodies separated hit me like a sucker punch. I shrugged my shoulders to disguise my discomfort as we jogged toward the back door of the cottage. “Deserting our friends for half an hour of fun?”
Sam narrowed his eyes and tried to grab hold of my waist. “Fun? No. Not fun. The best half hour of—”
“Samuel! Grace?” Eve appeared on the path in front of us and jerked her head toward the cottage. “Your presence is required immediately in the control center. The entire house is waiting.”
Sam flashed his dimples as a grimace exposed his bottom teeth. He nodded his head and ducked past Eve, heading for the back door. I straightened the hem of my black shirt. “Sorry, we were just doing some last-minute training. Sam thought it would be a good idea—”
“I’d rather not hear about Sam’s good ideas, thank you very much, Grace,” Eve said. Sam grinned at me over his shoulder as he disappeared inside the house. I covered my mouth with my hand to suppress my giddiness, but Eve’s grim expression deflated the swell of emotion before my fingers had reached my lips. I crossed my arms and attempted to sidestep her so that I could reach the cottage, but Eve blocked my path. “Grace, I need to talk to you.”
I twisted my gold bangle around my wrist. “I’m popular today.”
“Pardon?” Eve tapped her foot as she stared at me.
My cheeks colored as I shrugged my shoulders. “Nothing. What do you want to talk about, Eve?”
“We still haven’t discussed Deirdre’s claim.” Eve’s muscles were so tightly clenched that I could see the tendons in her neck.
I hugged my arms to my chest and stared at the ground. “Do you think she was being honest? Am I really your daughter?”
“Aza ran the tests—Deirdre was telling the truth.” I squeezed my eyes shut as Eve spoke, overwhelmed by the torrent of mixed emotions I had been suppressing since we returned from the Elder’s sanctuary. Eve cleared her throat. “Would you like to ask me anything, Grace?”
My forehead creased and I glared at the grass. The wind lashed the trees with increasing ferocity as both of us struggled to control our magic. Eve twisted her wrist and tapped on the face of her watch with her fingernails, and something inside me snapped. I thrust my chin upward. “How did you not notice? Gabriel said they took your baby and a few days later they handed me over for safe-keeping—how did you not realize it was the same baby?”
“I don’t know.” Eve’s voice stretched the words thin. She knotted her fingers together. “I wasn’t myself, Grace. I was so young when I met Marc, not very much older than you are now, and I was still grieving for my family—my mother and my grandparents were dead, and I had pushed Gabriel away so thoroughly that he might as well have been dead too. Marc became my whole world in a matter of months. I had never known a man before, Mother and Gabriel still thought of me as a child. And they were right. I was a child—a naïve, foolish child.”
My throat burned as I watched her stare out over the gray ocean. I pinched the inside of my wrist. “Did you love him? Marc?”
“I did.” Eve closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. “Marc became all things to me. He filled every aching chasm in my life, and I was utterly dependent on him. It was only later, as the years passed, that I realized he had been manipulating me. I think a tiny part of me still believed he might have been a victim too. Hoped that maybe his love had been true, on some level, and maybe he would come back to me with my little girl.”
My heart ripped open as tears began to trickle down Eve’s face. I had never seen her weep—tough, cold, unyielding Eve. My fingers trembled as I reached out to touch her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“No! No, Grace—I’m sorry!” Eve was crying freely now. She cupped my face in her hands and used her thumbs to try and stem the flow of my tears. “I should have seen beyond their lies, Grace. If only I had been brave enough to truly look—you have my mother’s eyes and her perfect poise. That’s why I named you Grace. Other babies flailed in their cribs, but your movements were a dance.”
The sobs came in jagged bursts as I bent down to cradle my head in the crook of Eve’s neck. My mother’s neck. Mother. My heart was remade as she pressed her lips against my hair and whispered words of love and regret. I felt a surge of wonder at my release from the armor I normally wore to protect myself. I was floating, almost like I had been drugged or charmed.
My head snapped back with enough force to crack my spine, and I whipped Eve behind my back as I surveyed the periphery. Eve’s magic surrounded my body like a flare and enveloped us both. I hissed as my Seeking energy found each target. The cottage was surrounded. Peter’s voice reached my ears before my eyes had managed to isolate his figure at the gate.
He clapped his hands slowly. “Bravo, girls, bravo. That was a beautiful moment. Of course, it may be our little Heart we need to praise—who knows if you’d ever have managed to share your feelings without her persuasion?”
I flinched as he dragged a small girl into the center of the gateway. Valerie’s raven curls hung limply around her face, and she seemed to have shrunk since I last saw her. The memory of her dark cheek pressed against Diamond’s lifeless body assaulted my mind, and I flinched as I felt her react to my emotion. The Heart—a gift and a curse She dropped her face onto her chest and stared at the ground as Peter shook her shoulder.
“Leave the child alone, Peter.” Eve raised her hands into the air, and the wind shrieked overhead. I clenched my teeth as I realized the sky above the cottage was swirling with Spirit Demons. My fingers twitched, and I wrapped an arm around Eve’s waist. She flicked her wrist, and a fork of lightning struck the ground at Peter’s feet. I felt a swell of satisfaction as he jumped backward.
“You can’t enter these grounds, Peter. They are charmed to repel all those who are not a friend.” Eve narrowed her eyes as several other figures emerged from the darkness behind Peter. I recognized several from the amphitheater in the Elder’s citadel. The Circle had come for us. Eve's voice cracked through the air like a whip. “And you are not our friends. Begone!”
The boundary walls shook as a frenzy of wind and rain swept around it like a hurricane, knocking several of the Elders to the ground. Only Peter and one other man remained standing. Valerie had disappeared from sight. The doors behind us burst open, and our friends surrounded us in a rush of black clothes and magical fury.
Peter and the other man shielded their heads with their arms as Niamh strode toward the gate. Her song, to my ears, was beautiful and pure, but the men squirmed and writhed under its spell. Aza grabbed my hand and shoved me into Sam’s arms. “Make sure your net reaches Niamh. Take us to her home in the Shadow City.”
I twisted to argue with her, but Sam’s arms surrounded me like a vice. His eyes flashed wildly and my heart hammered in response. “Grace, it’s a show. We’re not ready to fight the Circle.”
Sam’s gaze flickered to the two figures at the gate, and I tasted bile in my mouth as his terror beat against me. I pressed my hands against his face, drawing his focus back to me. Back to my love for him. “Okay. Okay, let’s go. Free your power.”
My pulse began to race as I watched him struggle to connect with his energy. His face twisted toward the gate again, and my stomach lurched as I realized the men were no longer overwhelmed by Niamh’s song. The other Elders began to find their feet. I grabbed Sam’s face and pressed my lips against his mouth, feeding him my energy as though it were air for his lungs.
For a moment, his body was unmoving beneath my touch—his magic frozen by fear. I pushed further inside him, tracing my tongue over his full lips, and
like a spark on dry paper, his magic erupted into flames. I drank it down greedily and together we cast our golden net around everyone at Hidden House. Lydia struggled and wailed for release in Frank’s arms, but I held her steady in my mind and swept my energy over the garden to ensure we had forgotten nobody as we spun through space and time.
I imagined that Valerie’s presence called to me from beyond the wall, and I felt a stab of pain. I lingered for a moment at the edge of the charmed wall and whispered with my heart. As the world spun and the Irish coast vanished from sight, I hoped that she had heard my words. And that I would be strong enough to keep my promise.
Chapter Twelve
Grace
“This is a terrible idea.” Sam leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. His frame looked comically large on the small wooden stool that Aza had put him sitting on in the corner of Niamh’s drawing room. He ignored Aza’s black glare and jerked his head in the direction of the kitchen. “Kids, Demons, sick people—this isn’t a team, it’s an inevitable bloodbath.”
Aza crossed her arms. “What is your suggestion, boy? You want to leave the children and old people behind so the Elders can swoop down and gobble them up in one bite, yes?”
Sam spread his fingers wide. “If we just split the team—send the people who are trained in active duty to the prison and the children and the sick somewhere else. Somewhere safe.”
“No,” Dawn shouted. Sam’s face flushed as he caught sight of Frank standing behind Dawn and Ozzie in the doorway. Dawn spoke again. “No, you’re not sending us anywhere and you’re not leaving us behind. There is nowhere safe left anymore, we need to free Emmanuel and the others—we’re not going to be able to fight the Circle without them.”
Frank stared at Sam across the room. “I know Lydia’s been sick, Sam. The things we saw . . .” He clenched his jaw and swallowed hard. “We have to stick together. We deserve a chance to fight the bastards.”
Cat pressed her fingers against her temples as she eyed her daughter. “Dawn, I know you think you’re helping, but this isn’t a kids’ war. This is real. These people are—”
“They’re not people anymore.” Dawn’s lips twisted into a sad smile as she tucked her mother’s hair behind her ears. “I know, Mum. I know what they are—I see them in my dreams, surrounded by blackness. This is a kids’ war. It’s my war. They want to use Ozzie and me as their weapons. We have a right to fight with you, because if you fight and lose they’ll come for us. And they have no mercy.”
I shivered, remembering Valerie’s sunken eyes as she watched us vanish from the cottage, and Brandon wrapped his arm around my shoulder. He looked at Niamh. “Dawn is right, we need to stick together until we can find a safe space to make a new headquarters.”
“Fine. You all win.” Sam dragged his hair off his forehead. “The High Council’s prison—perfect place to bring the kids. Gods.”
Eve tapped her fingernails on the polished mahogany writing desk. “That’s quite enough, Samuel. I agree with you that attempting a prison break with such a motley crew in tow seems ill-advised, but it would appear we are out of viable alternatives.” She turned to face Aza and Niamh. “Your previous headquarters in the Tower of London?”
Niamh frowned. “I considered that option, the tower is heavily fortified and has been strengthened with our most powerful Demon charms.” She shook her head. “But I can’t vouch for the other Demons. If you’d asked me a few days ago, I would have brought you there in a heartbeat, but after everything that’s happened…”
Aza grunted. “First Fergus and Lara, now Lizzie—we can’t trust anybody except the people in this house right now.”
“And maybe not even those, am I right, Aza?” Sam said. Aza gave him a grudging curve of her lips. He tilted his head. “Right, we don’t trust the Demons, the Shadow Children we trust are either in prison or seem to have vanished off the face of the earth, the Elders are hunting us down so they can use us to mass occur the Human population to feed some unknown darkness, and the Angelic community haven’t a fucking clue what’s really happening. Fair synopsis?”
Gabriel threw a Spirit Blade into Sam’s lap. “Spot on, now get your butt off that tiny stool, quit whining, and let’s take back the tiny bit of power we have. Can you do that?”
Sam caught my eye and held it for a moment. I bit my lip, and he stood up, stretching himself to his full height. He slid the Spirit Blade inside his belt. “Yeah. I can do that.”
Gabriel slapped his shoulder, and Aza began shouting directions at everyone and ordering them into the previously agreed units. Brandon, Sam, Gabriel, and I moved to the door first. A tiny part of me longed to run back and kiss Eve, Dawn, and Cat, but I didn’t let myself dwell on the urge. Everyone was coming back today. Any other outcome was unbearable.
“Each team knows their route through the city. Heads down, mouths shut. Everyone gathers at the rear of the agreed car park in seventeen minutes. If you get delayed for any reason, take cover after eighteen minutes and Grace and Sam will Reap you to us.” Aza pointed a finger in my direction. “Girl, you got something belonging to everybody so you can Seek them for Mr. Sourpuss to Reap them?”
My lips twitched as Sam lifted one eyebrow. “Mr. Sourpuss? I like it. I’ve been called worse.”
I elbowed him in the ribs. “I don’t need any belongings, I can Seek them without help.”
“You're certain?” Niamh asked. Her icy blue eyes examined my face intently.
I squared my shoulders. “I’m certain. I can do it now—I understand the magic better since Jonah helped us use it.”
Niamh and Aza exchanged a glance before Aza pressed a button on her phone and threw it to Victor, the Shifter Demon. We all stood with tensed limbs until she lifted her head and barked at us. “What are you waiting for? Sixteen minutes and fifty seconds. Go!”
Sam grabbed my hand and pulled me out the front door and onto the pavement. I ran my gaze along the street as Gabriel pulled the neatly painted blue door shut behind us. Cain’s team were already rounding the corner having exited through the backyard. Gabriel prodded Brandon’s back with his finger and Sam tucked me under his arm. “Be cool, Gracie. Don’t even look at the other team. We need to be halfway down this street before Aza and her guy come out the front door, okay? Just a casual stroll with friends, right?”
I let Sam steer me along the street as I struggled to control my magic. The sight of Dawn and Ozzie walking hand-in-hand behind Cat and Cain tugged at my chest and left me breathless. This wasn’t right. They deserved to be real kids walking to the ice-cream shop, not trained soldiers preparing to break into a magically protected prison.
Sam switched sides, slipping his hand under my jacket as he stepped behind me. His fingers worked their way under the back of my shirt with expert precision and stroked the base of my spine as we strode behind Brandon and Gabriel. His breath tickled my neck as he whispered in my ear. “They’re not kids, Gracie. I don’t like them being here either, but Dawn is right. They don’t get to be kids until we end this shit—for good. And we can’t do that without help. We need Emmanuel. We need them all. Okay?”
I pressed my lips together and nodded as we turned the corner into a pretty, paved market square. Some old men were drinking coffee and playing chess on the street with life-size chess pieces. My heart jumped in recognition, and I grabbed Gabriel by the sleeve, pulling him to a halt. He cut his eyes at me. “Six minutes, Grace. What are you doing?”
“The café, Gabriel.” I jerked my head toward a coffee house further along the square. “We shouldn’t pass it. That guy that owns it, the Demon, he could be a traitor. He didn’t like you. The last time we were here, he said he didn’t want your type around, remember?”
Gabriel’s skin flushed, and he snatched his arm back. “That was nothing to do with the Elders, just keep your face turned away, and he won’t even see us.”
Brandon glanced at the street name and tapped his foot on the pavement. “Okay guys, we can take the n
ext left and then turn right if we want to avoid the café—”
“No!” The old men stopped their game of chess and stared in our direction. Gabriel turned his face toward the wall and grabbed my hand. “No. That was nothing to do with the Elders or anyone here. He’s a Demon from my home, that’s all. Old world business. Please?”
Sam and Brandon looked at me, and I shrugged my shoulders and started to walk across the square with my head down. Brandon lengthened his stride and spoke out of the corner of his mouth. “Three minutes. I’m not facing Aza first if we’re late.”
We ducked into a narrow alley and emerged across from the main gates of the university. Sam checked his phone. “Just over two minutes. We can either cut through the university grounds, use magic to transport ourselves, or we run.”
Brandon eyed the peak of the university tower, visible over the treetops, and grimaced. “I vote for option two or three. There is no part of me that wants to pass through that courtyard again.”
“We run. No magic unless essential.” Gabriel gave Sam a pointed look and nudged us into a run.
Sam grinned at Gabriel’s back as we sprinted after him, trying to look like we were training for a road race. “You’re one to talk, mate. Those gates will never look the same.”
I glanced back over my shoulder at the freshly repaired wrought iron gates, and my pace faltered. A familiar figure leaned against the gatepost, watching us disappear around the corner. I pushed my legs harder and caught up with the others as they skidded to a halt beside Aza’s team in the car park.
Chapter Thirteen
Grace
Aza glowered at her watch and pointed her finger at the space between the wall and a packing container. The rest of the teams were already waiting in the cramped space. My chest loosened a little as I did a mental head count. Everyone accounted for except Niamh. I grabbed Aza’s hand as she pushed us in beside the others. “Aza, wait—”
The Demon-Born Trilogy: (Complete Paranormal Fantasy Series) Page 54
