“You’re late. Your team should have been no later than second to arrive,” Aza said.
Sam put his arm around my waist and tried to pull me against his side. “We’re less than a minute late, Aza. No need to get bitchy.”
I shrugged his arm off and twisted to face the Demon. “Aza, I saw—”
Aza’s eyes blazed as she stared at Sam. “Don’t disregard the importance of a minute, boy. Civilizatons have risen and fallen on actions taken in a single moment.”
Before Sam could argue, I pressed my hand over his mouth and caught Aza by the wrist. “Stop!” They both blinked at me, and Eve took a step closer to us with a worried expression. “I saw somebody—at the gates. One of the High Guardian’s men. Pierre? I think that was his name.” I looked from Brandon to Sam. “The guy with the dark red hair who wouldn’t act as an advisor for the councilor with the horse teeth and the big arse?”
Brandon squinted at me. “The Guardian you and Jasmine thought was hot?”
“He was at the main gate.” I brushed Brandon’s comment aside, reminding myself to kick him later if we didn’t get killed. “He saw us. It was almost like he knew we were coming.”
Eve rested a cool hand on my shoulder. “Do you think he recognized you, Grace?”
“He did. He never forgets a beautiful face.” My blood ran cold as the Guardian’s shadow fell across the gap between the container and the high stone wall. Sam’s Spirit Blade burst into life, and the heavy metal container began to creak as Eve raised her hands in the air. I grabbed Dawn and Ozzie by the shoulders and pulled them behind my back.
“Stand down.” Niamh appeared from behind the Guardian and gestured for Eve to lower her hands. Eve narrowed her eyes and raised them further. The metal box groaned loudly. Niamh held her palms outward. “Eve, Pierre is a friend. His father, John, is my ear on the High Council. I raised John from boyhood as one of our own—Aza and Gabriel can both vouch for his good character. In fact, you played with John in my home when Gabriel and Clara came to visit me.”
Eve cut her eyes in Gabriel’s direction, and he nodded. “That’s true, although I didn’t realize his son had followed him into the Council.”
Pierre dipped his head. “A lowly trainee Guardian, sir. A bit of luck with fighting skills and elemental magic, that’s the only reason I was accepted into the University Guard.”
“Your hair…” Eve eyed Pierre closely. “Gabriel, is this the boy who was staying in your London home when I came to you with Grace?” Gabriel smiled and Eve let her hands drop slowly to her sides. “Such a circle. Your mother taught me to bath Grace, young man. I had no idea how to care for a child. We used to bath you together in the Belfast sink.”
Pierre’s gaze traveled lightly over my body, and he gave me a slow smile. “Is that so? Sounds charming.”
Sam cracked his knuckles and twisted to face Aza, blocking my view of the Guardian. “Aza, I thought we were on a tight schedule?”
“You are,” Pierre said. Sam ground his back teeth and continued to stare at Aza. Pierre raised one eyebrow and turned to Niamh and Gabriel. “I have everything you asked for. The shift will change in less than ten minutes—the Guardian’s assigned to your friends are powerful, you will not be able to restrain them for very long.”
“Is everyone there? Have they been harmed?” Brandon snapped his mouth closed as if he could retract his questions with silence.
Pierre tilted his head to one side. “All prisoners taken from the Spirit Battle in North Carolina were accounted for this morning. They have all been questioned by senior Guardians.” Brandon flinched and dropped his stare to the ground. Pierre handed Niamh a small golden coin. “This charm will allow you to open all the doors, but if the alarm is triggered before you have exited the building, there will be no escape. The high-security wing is a magical vacuum.”
Niamh frowned. “We understand.”
Pierre saluted and turned to leave, but Gabriel caught him by the arm. “Thank you, Pierre, for taking this risk.”
“Papa has told me what he can, and it’s no risk compared to the possible outcome if your people don’t succeed.” Pierre turned his gaze on the rest of us. “Thank you for fighting for us.”
He flashed me a quick smile before disappearing out of sight. Sam glared at the charm sitting in Niamh’s palm. “So, that magic key that’s going to let us waltz in and rescue everyone? Saucy piece of equipment for a low-grade Guardian to be able to get his mitts on, isn’t it?”
“His father is a member of the High Council, Samuel. Pierre was merely delivering the key to me.” Niamh’s tone was sharp. She rested a hand on Aza’s forearm. “How many minutes do we have? Can you mobilize the teams? I will assist Gabriel’s team to empty the cells.”
I bit the inside of my cheek and tried not to let anxiety gain a foothold in my gut. Cat took a step forward so that her shoulder pressed against mine. “There should be a second team sent inside. It’s too dangerous to send one team alone.”
“Don’t worry, lady Catherine, there is enough danger to share around. Your team will be subduing and containing the Guardians who are coming off duty in—” Aza checked her handheld tablet and pursed her lips. “Six minutes. We have six minutes. Everybody in their team formation immediately. Gabriel, your team go first—you know the route to the cells and Niamh will fill you in on the details as you run.”
Sam opened his mouth, but Aza silenced his grumble with a swish of her pointed nails. “No time for grousing, lover boy. We have chosen to trust the Guardian. If he lies and the High Council trap us, we’re doomed. But if we don’t help your friends and we try to face the Elders alone, we’re doomed as well. Take your pick, boy, but don’t base your decision on jealousy that the Angel has seen the princess naked in the bath, and you haven’t.”
My cheeks roared red as every red blood cell in my body rushed to my face. Cat and Eve both caught my hand and squeezed tightly as I shimmied passed Sam and Aza to follow Gabriel, Brandon, and Niamh. Dawn just smiled at me. Sam was already by my side by the time I caught up with the others. I chanced a sly glance at him out of the corner of my eye.
“I wasn’t jealous about the bath thing.” Sam’s whisper warmed my ear.
I shrugged my shoulders and watched intently as Niamh wrenched open a small, graffiti-adorned service door in the back wall of a rundown building at the edge of the university campus.
Sam flicked his thumb against his jaw. “I mean, that would be pathetic—you were babies. Just because he’s a tall, smooth-talking Guardian Angel now. It doesn’t mean anything.”
Niamh glowered over her shoulder at Sam, and Gabriel shot him a warning glance. Sam held his hands up in apology, and we made to follow them into the darkness. Before we crossed the threshold, his fingers gripped my arm. “You’re a free agent, Grace, if a Guardian Angel is what you—”
I silenced Sam with a hard kiss on my lips. He wrapped his arms around my waist and crushed me against his body. I broke away and rested my palm against his jaw. “We’re walking into the most feared Angelic prison on the planet and straight into the clutches of a group of people who want us dead. I promise you, if you manage to keep everyone we love alive and get us the hell out of this city safely, I will even the score on that naked bath thing. Okay?”
Sam whipped me through the door and up to Gabriel’s side before I could draw breath. Gabriel watched as Sam spun his Spirit Blade between his fingers and circled our team like a cat. Niamh raised her brows. “I am glad to see you finally appreciate the gravity of the mission, Samuel.”
Sam’s dimples winked at me as he responded to Niamh. “You’re right, the stakes have never been higher.”
Chapter Fourteen
Grace
The darkness thickened as we crept further away from the daylight filtering through the half-opened door. I squinted at the vague shapes surrounding us, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the dim grayness. My Seeking magic flowed into the air around us in search of any trace of life, but I could
sense nothing.
“Where are we?” The dense silence in the room swallowed my whisper whole.
I imagined the frown on Brandon’s face as he spoke. “We are in a basement, right? Underneath the prison cells—probably some sort of storage unit.”
“Sensible guesswork, Brandon.” Gabriel’s face emerged from the darkness as Sam tentatively lit his Spirit Blade. Gabriel scanned the room carefully before gesturing for Sam to increase the intensity of his light. “That’s exactly where we are.”
Sam eyed the rows of objects concealed by large sheets of tarpaulin and stepped closer to me. “What’s the plan, Niamh? Hanging around in the High Council’s prison basement hardly seems like the world’s smartest strategy.”
“Eve’s team will subdue and contain the Guardians who are being relieved from duty. Aza and Victor’s team will do the same to the Guardians who are preparing to take over for the next shift.” Niamh glanced at her wristwatch and pulled a compact computer tablet from her pocket. “The prison wing is a magical vacuum—none of our powers will work there. Neither will mobile phone networks. Aza has managed to rig a primitive computer-based signal system that should suffice for our needs.”
Brandon’s foot jiggled on the concrete ground. “How long until we can go in?”
“Two minutes.” Niamh glanced at the computer screen again, and her lips thinned. “Correction—one minute. Eve’s team has already contained the Guardians who were finishing their shift.”
I wrapped my fingers around Gabriel’s wrist. “What are we supposed to do up there if we can’t use our magic? What if there are Guardians on duty that we don’t know about? Or if somebody comes along unexpectedly? I won’t be able to sense them without my magic.” I picked at my thumbnail. “Sam and I won’t be able to transport anybody until we get out of the vacuum.”
Gabriel covered my fingers with his hand. “You’re going to do what Eve spent eighteen years training you to do—you’ll fight like a Human. No magic, no tricks—just brains and skill. You can do that, Grace.”
“It’s time.” Niamh tucked the small computer back inside her pocket and flashed the small gold coin Pierre had given her against the door handle. Silently, the door swung open, and we found ourselves standing at the bottom of the metal staircase.
Gabriel began to push his way through the doorway, but Brandon grabbed his shoulder and yanked him to a halt. “If you want people to fight like a Human, Gabriel, then maybe let the Human lead the way.”
Gabriel glanced at Niamh, and she nodded her head. He stepped back and let Brandon pass. “Okay, Human. Let’s see what you made of.”
Brandon bounded up the staircase on light feet, stopping at the top and gesturing for the rest of us to follow him. The corridor at the top of the staircase was exactly how I had imagined a prison corridor would look. Fluorescent lighting shivered overhead and grubby, beige linoleum squealed under our shoes. Brandon unsheathed two short, curved blades. “Which cells are the Shadow Children being held in, Niamh?”
Niamh had the good grace to squirm as she answered his question. “That is information I neglected to acquire.”
Sam shook his head and widened his eyes in disbelief. “You didn’t even check which cells we need to bust open? Oh look, what’s behind door number one—it’s a violent sociopath who’s going to eat your brain, congratulations!”
Gabriel shouldered past Sam. “No time wasting. it doesn’t matter. If there is a psychopathic murderer behind one of these doors, we do the world a favor and kill him.”
I stared at Gabriel as he marched past us and gestured for Niamh to open the door to the first cell. Sam and I exchanged a look as we followed them. Brandon’s shoulders were squared so tightly that I was afraid he might snap. We raised our weapons and held our breath as the door swung open.
“Fuck you, you’ve already interrogated him this morning—keep your slimy hands off him. If you want to talk to somebody, talk to me, douche bags.” It took me a moment before I recognized the eyes glaring at me from the heavily bruised face. A strangled cry escaped Brandon’s lips, and the figure in front of us lowered his clenched fists. “Brandon? What the hell?”
Brandon threw his arms around Lucas’s back and pressed his face into his shoulder. For a moment Lucas’s hands hung limply by his side as he stared at us in disbelief. Brandon pulled away and brushed his fingers over Lucas’s roughly shorn hair. “Luc, I’m so sorry for being such an asshole. I acted like a spoiled child, I’m sorry.”
“They told me you were dead.” Lucas’s voice cracked as he blinked at Brandon.
Gabriel maneuvered past them and glared pointedly at myself and Sam. “Move it, you two. Check every bunk—get everyone up and moving. Go!”
Brandon and Lucas burst into motion as myself and Sam began to rip blankets off every bunk in search of familiar faces. Lucas whipped around to face Gabriel. “Everyone in the cell belongs with us. They douse us with ice cold water at night and shine lights in our eyes, so we sleep during the day and take turns keeping watch.”
Jabol and Mark sprang out of the closest bunks, both of them with fists raised in the air. Mark and Megan’s father, Paul, was the next to wake. All three prisoners stared at us in disbelief but wasted no time asking questions. As Sam reached for the final bed, Lucas grabbed his elbow. “Sam, wait. Emmanuel got the worst of it from the Guardians. We’ll have to carry him.”
Rage and horror turned Sam’s eyes to stone, but his hands were gentle as he reached down to lift the Master from his bed. I turned to Niamh as a whimper escaped from Emmanuel’s slack lips, and she pressed her fingers against her mouth. “I’m sorry, Grace, there’s nothing I can do without my magic. We need to get him to Eve or Aza.”
Brandon turned to Lucas. “Do you know who else is being held in this wing? Are all of the Shadow Children who were captured on Grandfather Mountain here?”
“Everyone held in these cells is a Shadow Child or someone else accused of being a traitor to the Veil. I tried to keep track when they dragged us in and out for interrogation. Most of the women and girls are being held in the last two cells on the right.” Lucas tipped his head toward the opposite end of the corridor.
Gabriel snapped his fingers. “Brandon and Lucas, accompany Niamh while she unlocks all of the doors. Don’t go inside, unlock each door and move onto the next one.” Niamh and the two boys nodded and raced to the next cell. Gabriel pointed at the rest of us in turn. “Jabol, first cell on the left. Mark, second cell on the right. Grace, first cell on the right.”
The moment he barked his order at me, I bolted down the corridor and entered the assigned cell. My heart pounded as I ducked to avoid a flying kick. The figure flew at me again, fists moving with mind-blowing speed. I spun to one side and flipped under a bunk to avoid being pinned to the wall. “Grace?”
I bounced from one foot to the other warily as the narrow figure turned to face me. My breath caught in my throat. “Megan?”
“Gods, Grace. I thought you were one of them—I almost snapped your neck.” Megan glowered at me with bloodshot eyes.
My lips twisted into a grin. “Please, you’d have to have caught me first.” My smile faded as I registered the jagged remains of her hair. I scanned the room for any other prisoners. “Is there anyone else here? We have to leave immediately.”
“Nobody. They put me in isolation for being too much of a trouble maker.” Megan raised her shoulders and let them drop, widening her eyes innocently. Only Megan could manage to make a badly shaved head look like a beauty accessory.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her into the corridor. Crowds of familiar faces filled the narrow hallway. My eyes widened as Lucas’s mother emerged from a cell behind Gabriel. “Camille? What are you doing here?”
Camille ‘s fingers dug into my waist as she threw her arms around me. “Grace? Do you know where the boys are?”
“They’re here, they’re both here. They’re okay, Camille. It’s okay.” I squeezed her shoulders and scanned the corridor fo
r Lucas’s face. “How did you get here, Camille?”
Camille blinked at me with dazed eyes. “Somebody called a meeting of the Masters. Told us to bring our best fighters. It was an ambush—the Guardians took everyone.” Her mouth twisted. “Somebody betrayed us, Grace.”
“I know, Camille. I’m sorry.” The words fell limply from my lips, but Camille barely heard them as she threw herself across the corridor into Lucas’s arms. Niamh and Brandon were organizing the freed prisoners into small groups. Sam stood at the top of the staircase with his eyes riveted to Emmanuel’s unconscious face. My pulse pounded against my eardrums as I reached Gabriel outside the final two cells.
He turned to face me. “All okay, Grace?”
“Yeah,” I said, pulling my whip from my weapon’s belt. “Still no Jasmine and Eli though. Or Lizzie.” I clenched my teeth. “Gabe, what are we going to do if we find her? When the others realize she betrayed the Shadow Children . . .”
Gabriel closed his eyes and, for a moment, I saw the weight of his years lie heavy on his skin. He pushed his shoulders back. “We’ll leave her here. We’ll lock her back in the cell.”
I squeezed my fingers around the handle of my whip. “But if she’s still locked in the cell, then maybe we have it wrong, Gabriel? I mean, if she is working with the Elders then why the hell would she still be here? They could snap their fingers and have her out of here in a second.”
Niamh flashed her wrist-watch at us from the other end of the corridor and spread her fingers wide. Gabriel nodded and pressed his palm flat against the cell door. “I don’t know, Grace. I don’t know what to think anymore. But we don’t have the time to play judge and jury.”
The door eased open before I could respond and I felt a stab of fury pierce my heart. “You!” My whip split the air and wrapped itself around the ankle of the thin man cowering in the corner. “Master William. You sneaky little son of a—”
The Demon-Born Trilogy: (Complete Paranormal Fantasy Series) Page 55
