Hunted tgl-3

by Ednah Walters

  Annoyance flashed in Gavyn’s eyes. “He was in trouble, I contacted you but you chose to ignore me. But that’s yesterday’s news. He’s okay, for now. In fact, he was here earlier. I can still feel his energy.”

  “I don’t like being accused of things I haven’t done, Gavyn.”

  “This time, you’re guilty as charged, but I’m in a good mood and would rather talk about you and this new vibe—”

  I waved my hand without meaning to and sent him upward and backward until his back slammed the door and his feet dangled several inches off the floor. “I’m not in the mood for your stupid games either, Gavyn. Start talking.”

  Furious didn’t begin to describe the expression that flashed on his face. “Put me down!”

  “Tell me what you’re talking about. What trouble was Bran in? When did you contact me?”

  “Don’t be hotheaded, Lilith. You touch me again and you, your minions, and everyone in this building go poof. You didn’t think I’d come here alone, did you? Put. Me. Down.”

  I did a psi scan to confirm his words. There were demons outside, on the ground and on the roof of the building. I wasn’t sure whether they were regular demons or the Tribe, but I refused to show Gavyn that his threats worried me.

  I guided the power buzzing on my back to move to my right hand, just like Master Haziel had taught me. My fingers tingled as the ancient writings appeared on the surface of my skin. Then my hand started to glow.

  “What in Tartarus is that?” Gavyn asked.

  “Start. Talking.”

  Uncertainty flickered in his eyes, but then his smugness returned. “Go ahead. The Tribunal will only bring me back,” he bragged.

  There was that word again—the Tribunal. What did it mean? “No one returns from Tartarus.”

  “That is where you are wrong, little sister. Not only will I come back, but I’ll be stronger. On top of that, you’ll have to explain to my brother why you sent me there in the first place.”

  Bran. If only Gavyn wasn’t his brother. I let him go. He landed on the floor like a cat, adjusted his blazer, and brushed off his shoulder. Another smug grin touched his lips.

  “What is this new power you have?” he asked, staring at my hand.

  I willed the writings from my hands. They disappeared along with the glow. I took a step away from Gavyn. “I think you should leave now.”

  “Okay, if you insist on knowing the truth,” he said flippantly. “I got your phone number through your human medium and sent you some text messages.”

  My mind raced as I tried to recall what was in the messages from Kylie.

  Are you with Bran? The first one had said. Kylie often checked if I was alone before asking me over to her place. I’d responded with a “no”. I hadn’t read the next two messages because of the meeting.

  Get over here now, I need your help… The last text had sounded so much like Kylie, I hadn’t bothered to finish reading it. It never crossed my mind to wonder why she hadn’t used abbreviated texts like she usually did.

  “Why couldn’t you be clearer? I thought they came from Kylie, and she thought her brother sent them.” I was yelling by the time I finished.

  “Clearer? What part of ‘get over here now, I need your help stopping Bran’ wasn’t clear,” he snapped, losing his cool too. “Or ‘Bran needs you’?”

  Guilt washed over me. I shouldn’t have ignored the rest of the message, or the previous ones. “What happened?”

  “Oh, now you want to know?”

  “Just. Tell. Me.”

  He made a face. “He pissed off a few club owners while searching for me, got into a few fights. I couldn’t help him because I was in the middle of an important meeting, so I contacted you. By the time I finished, which was a few minutes ago, I learned he wanted to meet me, which as it happens works perfectly with my plans. I want to see him too.” His expression grew serious. “In fact, I have a proposal for the two of you.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Really?”

  “Listen first before you blow me off. Join me.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You and Bran should leave the Guardians and join me.”

  He had lost it if he thought we could ever do something so stupid. “Why would we do that?”

  “It is the only way to stop the Tribe.”

  Maybe he wasn’t crazy. “What do you mean?”

  “All this mess would have been avoided if Bran had done the right thing and accepted his responsibilities as the leader of the Hermonites.” His voice dropped. “The truth is out, Lilith. The Tribunal knows how he ‘won’ the battle on Jarvis Island.”

  The hollow feeling I hated settled in my stomach. A little over four month ago, Valafar had staged a fight-till-death combat on Jarvis Island and told the demonic world the winner would become their leader. At the same time, he had manipulated us, dangling the list of the humans who’d sold their souls to Bran until Bran signed a contract and joined the combat to win it back. I did not remember the details of that night, but Bran had filled me in. I had had no choice but to help him win. My participation, a secret among the Cardinals, had been known by only three demons—Valafar, who was dead, my sister and Gavyn. Even though Gavyn hadn’t been able to attend the event, Bran had told him afterward.

  “How could you use what Bran told you in confidence against us?”

  “I didn’t.” A weird expression crossed his face. “I mean, I did it to help you. Besides, that was just the first evidence we presented to the Tribunal. There’s more. You and your grandfather brainwashed Bran and made him switch—”

  “Bran chose us,” I snapped. “I’m getting tired of your people saying we influenced his decision.”

  “That’s your opinion. The fact remains that the switch is a first in the history of the Nephilim. The Tribunal wasn’t sure how to deal with that, until we told them about the Specials. Those children will cause an imbalance of power in the Guardians’ favor. And last, you decided to help soulless degenerates from the human cesspool. There are rules, Lilith. When humans sell their souls, they belong to us. You are not supposed to give their souls back.”

  I couldn’t come up with an argument against the things he’d said. We were guilty. No wonder the Goddess wanted us to find the Summoners to avoid annihilation.

  “Who summoned the Tribe? The Order? Can we meet with it?”

  “Those feeble-minded members of the Order cannot agree on anything, let alone a historic moment as the summoning.” He smiled smugly. “I formed a new council and summoned the Tribunal. Then the Tribunal sent its army to fix things.”

  I swallowed, refusing to panic. “Fix how?”

  “Hunt you guys down and make Bran take his rightful place with us. If he can’t, then you must take his place. You both won, so technically you should be co-rulers. The Specials must be returned to us. However, if you and Bran join me now, the Guardians can keep them. Oh, and no more helping humans. We’ve recovered our losses over the last two weeks and even acquired new ones, so we are even. The bottom line is if we get you and Bran, we can ask the Tribunal to rescind its orders and send the Tribe home.”

  He was nuts. There was no way I’d ever willingly join the dark side. On the other hand, if Bran were in danger… Unfortunately, he would do the same to protect me. There had to be a way to stop the Tribe. But what if Gavyn was lying to manipulate me?

  “When do you want an answer? I mean, can we sit down and discuss the details with your council?”

  Gavyn chuckled. “Nice try. You can meet the council after you agree to join us.”

  “Where? Mount Hermon?”

  “The assistant manager who gave you that name is in Tartarus. Don’t worry about the details. I’ll finalize them with Bran.”

  “With both of us,” I corrected him. “Did your council kidnap Jethro?”

  He cocked an eyebrow, the gesture so like Bran’s it annoyed me to see it on his face. “You ask way too many questions, Lil.”

  “Did you?”

/>   “We didn’t kidnap anyone. They volunteered. You have your army of Guardians willing to die for the cause, and now we have ours.” He smirked as though he knew his words would shut me up. “One little personal piece of advice, Lilith. That new ability you have can be very tempting to a power-hungry demon, so be careful who you show off to, especially when you meet my council.”

  I stared after him, surprised. He’d just warned me. Now why would he do that? He opened the door and disappeared out of view. I thought I heard him say something to the others, but I was busy replaying the conversation I just had. It was crazy, yet everything made sense, especially the way the Tribe only came after us, never the senior Cardinals.

  I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding, my gaze meeting with Esras’. Behind him stood Solaris, Lunaris, and Lucien. They slowly entered the room.

  “You heard?” I asked them.

  “Everything,” Esras said. The other three nodded.

  “Are you going to consider their offer?” Solaris asked. “Take one for the Guardians?”

  I shot her an annoyed look. “Of course not. You can’t believe anything Gavyn says. He’s mean and manipulative.”

  “What if he was speaking the truth?”

  “Not now, Solaris,” Esras warned.

  “Why not? The CT ordered the portal closed and hundreds of SGs are being asked to put their lives in danger for something her team did. What if she and Llyr can stop this nightmare?” She faced me and raised her brow.

  Put that way, it made sense to give in to Gavyn’s diabolical plan. “I don’t know, Solaris. Maybe we will. I have to talk to Bran and my grandfather about all this before…” I cleared my throat, refusing to give in to my emotions. I hated Gavyn Llyr.

  “So who really won the battle on Jarvis Island?” Solaris asked.

  Part of me wanted to blow her off, but another realized the truth would eventually come out. “Bran did, but I helped him during the last fight.”

  “So it’s true, the two of you won?” she continued

  I shrugged. “Something like that. Let’s go. I have to talk to Jethro’s Neutrals.”

  The others started out of the room, but Solaris wasn’t done. “So the demon wasn’t lying. You two are co-rulers, king and queen of the Hermonites.”

  “Shut up, Solaris,” her sister snapped from the doorway. “I swear, sometimes I wonder what goes on in your head.”

  “We now know why they are after us and we will stop them,” Esras said. He shot Solaris a glance. “Cardinals don’t run or throw their own under the bus, Solaris. We find out the Tribe’s weaknesses, and use them to our advantage.”

  “One thing still doesn’t make sense,” Lucien said. “Tribunal means court, right?”

  Esras and Lunaris nodded. Solaris didn’t bother to respond. She was probably thinking up another line of attack.

  “Why would a demon court decide our fate?” he asked.

  Silence followed his question, but with it came another possibility. “If they have a Tribunal who decide their cases, then we probably have one too,” I said. “We could have a rebuttal for the accusations leveled against us.”

  “Maybe the Senior Cardinals have answers,” Lunaris said.

  “Master Haziel, not the seniors,” I said.

  “Then let’s go home. I’d like to know if a Tribunal can really bring people from Tartarus like he claimed,” Solaris added. “It might explain why a Guardian saw Valafar. Maybe their Tribunal brought him back.”

  I inhaled, then exhaled slowly. Of all the things Gavyn had said, that worried me the most. No one was supposed to escape from Tartarus, yet he had said their Tribunal could bring demons back.

  “We can’t go home yet,” I said. “We must find Bran before Gavyn does.”

  Solaris eyes narrowed. “Why?”

  “He’s likely to do exactly what you want—sacrifice himself.” To save me.

  - 14 -

  NO SERVICE, GUARDIANS

  “Why didn’t you tell them the truth back there?” Esras asked when we left Jethro’s bar.

  “That Jethro joined a demonic faction run by Gavyn and his evil friends?” I shook my head as I led the way back into the alley. “He didn’t. He wouldn’t. Gavyn might act like he has all the answers, but he’s a manipulator.”

  “You promised to bring back Jethro and the children Gavyn’s new council kidnapped,” Lucien said.

  “We will, Lucien. I always try to think positive.” I stopped when we reached the back of the alley. “There are two places we can search for Bran. There’s a restaurant we usually hang out when we are in town. It is lunchtime now, so if he stopped to eat, he should be there. It is owned by a member of the Brotherhood.”

  “Lead the way,” Esras said. He’d become more talkative since the meeting with Gavyn, while Solaris had grown more quiet. I liked it.

  I teleported inside Keiran’s office and found him behind his desk, eating. He looked up, violet eyes widening underneath thick lashes. “Lil? What are you doing here?”

  “Looking for Bran.” The others appeared beside me. “Lucien, Esras, Lunaris, and Solaris.” I indicated the restaurateur. “Keiran, a member of the Brotherhood. His restaurant is the best in L.A.”

  Keiran put his plate down and stood. “I’m sorry we’re meeting under these circumstances, Guardians. I would have loved to welcome you with open arms. Unfortunately, I can’t.”

  I blinked. “What?”

  “Guardians are officially persona non grata around here.”

  “Since when?”

  “Since last night.”

  Great! The day couldn’t get any worse. “Does that mean Bran hasn’t been here today?”

  “Oh, he has…was here. He stopped by for breakfast and said he’d be back for lunch at,” he looked at his watch, “noon. It is five to. If you want to wait for him, sit.” He waved toward the chairs around the room. “I’ll even get you something to eat.”

  No one moved.

  “But you just said we are not allowed here,” I said.

  “In the restaurant. This is my office,” Keiran explained, flashing a lopsided grin. “Besides, I choose my friends, not my leaders.”

  I glanced at the others and indicated the chairs. Lucien was the first one to sit, but his fascinated gaze stayed on Kieran. He’d never met a member of the Brotherhood before. Not that they were really different from us. I grabbed a seat, too. Esras and the others had no choice but to sit.

  “So? Why can’t we eat here anymore?” I asked.

  Kieran perched his butt on the edge of his desk, crossed his arms and legs, and shrugged. “Last night, we got a visit from the senior Cardinals. They brought us the news about the arrival of the Tribe. Our leaders asked the Cardinals if they could offer sanctuary to our young, the Specials, and our elderly until the situation with the Tribe was resolved. We’d hoped they’d take them to Xenith or at the very least, hide them at one of your High Council Headquarters.” He sighed and shook his head.

  “They refused?” I asked, even though his scowl answered for him.

  “This morning Cardinal Hsia brought us the news. Your leaders in Xenith said no. So as of today, no Cardinal is allowed in our compound or at any business run by a member of the Brotherhood. Officially, we’ve gone back to being neutral. Literally.” He grinned and placed a clairvoyant crystal on his table. “So what would you like to eat?”

  I shook my head. “We don’t want you to go against your leaders, Keiran. We can eat at one of the Civilian-run restaurants.”

  “No, you can’t. Every restaurant and business run by your Civilian Guardians is closed. They all have Will Re-Open Under New Management signs on their doors. I was going to ask Bran what’s going on.”

  “All Civilians were told to head back to Xenith,” I explained.

  “Of course.” Keiran waved a hand over the crystal, activating it. “Order something while you wait for Bran. It’s on the house.”

  Despite his words, no one moved. I caught the
furtive glances between Esras and the twins and focused on them. Their guilt hung thick in the air.

  “You knew about the Circle’s refusal to help the Specials,” I said in an accusatory voice. No one answered. “Esras?”

  “Yes, we knew about the orders,” he answered.

  “And you’re okay with them?”

  He shook his head. “We’ve been taught to always follow directives given to us by the CT, Lil. When we heard about this, we knew there was nothing we could do to change things.”

  “Besides, you know the Specials on a personal level,” Solaris added. “We don’t, so we’re not really emotionally invested.”

  And…the bitch was back. “What about logic, Solaris? Does sealing the portal and leaving behind helpless children make sense to you?”

  “Helpless?” Solaris asked. “The Specials have more powers in their little fingers than hundreds of Guardians in Xenith combined. We don’t know where their loyalties lie, and as nature-benders, they might be more useful here than in Xenith.”

  “Shut up, Solaris,” I snapped. “Every time you open your mouth, you say something that makes me want to zap you to the last millennium. For starters, the Specials and the Brotherhood are our allies. Maybe not yours, but definitely ours. My grandfather will not bail on them. Second, Keiran said there are Brotherhood children and the elderly who need shelter, too.”

  The silence that followed my outburst was eerie. Keiran grinned. Lucien’s eyes were wide with, I don’t know, shock. Esras kept a straight, a face while Solaris sputtered with indignation. Lunaris was staring at her hands, so I couldn’t tell her reaction.

  “You can’t talk to me like that,” Solaris said belligerently.

  “I just did,” I said. “Third, the Specials are children, not warriors. We are not supposed to decide for them which side to support in this endless battle between us and demons. That will be their decision when they turn sixteen.”

  Solaris opened her mouth to speak.

  “I’m not done. Fourth, we are the ones who left them defenseless when we killed their parents and destroyed Coronis Isle. But my team did the humane thing—”