by Lizzy Ford
“You wanted to talk?” his father asked, entering the gym.
Declan replaced the phone in his pocket without responding. “I need to talk to my father, not the Councilmember.”
“Let’s go somewhere private,” Ethan said. “You have time for dinner? I’m cooking.”
Declan glanced at his watch, where he’d programmed in the ability to track Zoey’s movements via her cell phone signal. There was more than one reason he persisted on finding out her number, whenever she changed it. The pragmatic side of him understood the importance of finding her, while the part of him hurting feared losing her for good.
There was always a chance she’d answer the phone, too.
She was on the move, which was pretty standard. The connection between them let him experience her emotions. She was currently distraught, probably from the fire and her team being scattered. She was unhurt, and no blackout loomed that he could sense. He had time for dinner.
“Yeah,” he answered. “I was wondering if I could talk to you about something not really related to our issues.”
Ethan waved for him to follow, and they walked in silence through the compound to the dorm area housing the Councilmembers. Ethan’s underground apartment was large and luxurious, decorated in black and white with flashes of lemon and orange. He went to the full kitchen and began pulling items from the fridge.
Declan trailed, leaning against the counter, lost in thought for a moment. Rousing himself, he straightened. “I want to know about Mom.”
Ethan paused, eyes flickering up before he continued adding to the collection of food on the counter. Declan caught the near imperceptible stiffening, as if his father wasn’t pleased. “Can I ask why?”
“I keep thinking about Zoey and the Halflings. Olivia and her predecessors openly admit to genetic experiments. I can’t figure out how she was able to create soul-mates for us. There’s got to be a pattern or some sort of insight into what she’s doing.”
Ethan nodded without answering.
“Mom was a Halfling, wasn’t she?”
“She was.” His father’s tone grew softer whenever he talked about his deceased wife.
“Was she special like Team Rogue?”
“I think so.”
Declan waited. His unreserved father rarely hesitated to speak his mind. Sensing Ethan’s restraint, Declan shifted to face his father. “You’re hiding something.”
“You gonna interrogate me, Son?” Ethan asked gruffly.
“Should I?”
They eyed each other, neither willing to back off the subject.
“I have to find a way to save her,” Declan spoke first. “If there’s anything you know, any fact, gut feeling, suspicion … anything at all …”
No response.
“I know she died in a house fire. Did she ever have blackouts? Seizures?” Declan pressed.
Ethan closed the refrigerator door and drew a breath. “She did. They didn’t occur when we were together. When I left on business, they became a problem. Every one of the soul-mate rules has a tragic history. Before your mother, there were only three rules passed on to me by my father. The fourth rule I added, that nothing should ever come between you and your soul-mate. Not work, money, politics, emotions. Even distance. It’s meant to be taken literally as well as figuratively.”
“I didn’t know you added it,” Declan said. “What happened?”
“It’s not relevant. What you need to know is that the Halflings are stabilized when they’re with incubuses.” Ethan shrugged.
Declan listened, sensing there was more. “What’re you not saying, Dad?”
“I don’t know that now is the right time, Declan.”
“Zoey’s had seventeen blackouts in two months and isn’t about to let me near her. If you know anything, Dad, please tell me. I need the information,” Declan said, urgency and fear entering his voice. “Please.”
Ethan studied him, a dark look crossing his features. “Very well, Declan.” He paused. “This is something you can’t tell your brothers.”
Declan held his breath.
“Your mother didn’t die in a fire. When you were five, we had a bit of a falling out. It happens sometimes between couples. There were nine of you little buggers, six of you in your teen years. I’d just been appointed Enforcer Chief, and we were stressed to the breaking point.” Ethan’s golden gaze grew haunted. “We knew she had no issues when we were together, but we didn’t realize the extent of whatever it is the succubae do to their Halflings. Having the temper I do” – he gave a half-hearted smile – “I stormed out one day after we had a fight. I don’t even remember what it was about.”
Declan waited, dread in his gut. There was deep pain in his father’s voice, and it sent a tremor of concern through him.
“Anyway, we decided to separate for a while,” Ethan continued. “You kids stayed here, and she left. Before then, we’d never been apart for more than a week. She was gone a month, then two. I decided to go look for her if she was gone much longer. Our connection snapped one night. I went to find her, but it was too late.”
“What happened?” Riveted by the tale, Declan leaned forward.
“She met the fate of those Halflings that don’t get put down. The autopsy said she went through sudden, extensive organ failure and simply dropped dead where she was.”
Declan took a moment to digest the information. “Why would you lie about her death?”
“It’s not so much her death I lied about but what we discovered afterwards to prevent the Sucubatti from figuring out that we knew what they were doing,” Ethan explained. “Sienna preceded the first genetically altered Halflings, strong like Zoey, but far more unstable. She had the capacity to collect sex energy that exceeds anything our Cambions can do today without the ability to turn it around and disperse it the way Team Rogue can. It meant that you boys were born with unnaturally strong abilities, but it also basically melted her from the inside out, only after she was tortured and drained of most of her blood.” The vacant look returned. “Turns out that she was captured by the IAB the second day after she left, when she was on her way home. She spent two months being tortured and torn apart for medical experiments, and I was too angry to go look for her. I knew something was wrong but … She died. She died because I was too much of an egotistical bastard to go get her, like I should have.”
Nothing could’ve prepared him for the truth. Silence fell, and Declan remained in place. His mother had died when he was five, turning the next older sibling, Liam, into his personal protector. He recalled a time when his father was gone immediately after his mother’s death but never a time when his father ever let his agony show.
Losing Zoey in this way was unfathomable. Knowing the struggle between Incubatti and Sucubatti was a hundred years old, Declan was only now learning how horrific the relationship between societies really was.
“My mother was killed by the same people hunting Zoey,” he spoke finally.
“She was.”
Declan gazed at his father with renewed admiration. A single child, Ethan had then had the task of raising nine boys, dealing with excruciating heartbreak and being the head of the Enforcers, where he was forced to deal with his wife’s murderers on a daily basis. The amount of pressure he had to have been under made Declan feel inferior, if only for a moment, for not being able to manage a soul-mate and the job.
Ethan poured himself two shots of bourbon before pausing to stare into space, his frown deep. Unable to imagine what it was like to suffer with this knowledge alone for so many years, Declan reached out to his father the way his father normally did him. He settled his hands on Ethan’s shoulders.
“It’s not your fault, Dad. Shit happens between couples,” Declan replied resolutely. “The IAB hurt her. You loved her.”
“I know, Son.” Ethan squeezed one of his forearms. “The Sucubatti knew she was special when they grabbed her. They studied her anomalies in the hope of creating more Halflings like her. She is the
mold Zoey and her team were made after, strong enough to lure in you boys and unstable enough that they can be controlled by Olivia. Or so she thought. Sienna’s uniqueness was a natural genetic mutation, and Olivia was able to copy it, including the kill switch bred into all the Halflings. We never were able to figure it out. There wasn’t enough of your mother left over from what they did to her for us to research, and I refuse to subject any of you to the pain of losing a soul-mate by taking any member of Team Rogue for experimentation.” Ethan moved away from him, tossed back the golden liquid and poured two more shots. “I’m not about to do to them what was done to Sienna. She was taken apart, piece by piece, to find out what made her special.”
A chill went through Declan, followed by fury.
“The Sucubatti meant to burn her body. It was smuggled out by the Professor, who was assigned to the Sucubatti after The War. Our scientists took what blood and tissue the Sucubatti didn’t for study without being able to come to conclusive results,” Ethan finished. “Everyone pretended it was a house fire that killed her.”
“How could you possibly work with the IAB after that?”
“It took time. I didn’t for several years and stepped aside to raise you boys. The Professor helped me where I’d let him, drilling into my head that the greater good was more important than a broken heart,” Ethan said bitterly. “I beg to differ, but he was right about one thing. I had to look from the past to the future and do what was best for my sons. The Sucubatti have been plotting against us since The War, no matter what their Council claims. They need the perfect warriors in order to wipe us out. I suspect since Olivia is allied with Paul, she’s found something in the Cambions that’s helping their efforts.”
“I’m twenty three, Dad. At what point were you going to tell any of us the truth?”
“I wasn’t going to,” Ethan admitted. “To keep the peace.”
“There shouldn’t be peace!” Declan fired back. “Why have we ever backed off any of our beliefs? Why didn’t we take down the Cambions this spring and then fuck up Olivia’s plans?”
“Because we can’t have a war with two fronts. My boys are strong, but we need more time, and we need to break this unholy alliance between Olivia and Paul,” Ethan said with patience Declan didn’t feel. “Declan, we get one shot at fixing our society. If we fail, it’s not just our lives at stake.”
“Olivia wants Zoey. She’s already in danger,” Declan managed to keep his voice level when he wanted to shout. The same organization that killed his mother wanted his soul-mate. Knowing what might happen if they got to her turned his stomach.
“There’s a good chance they want to dissect her to perfect the model. Or maybe they did, and all that leaves now is turning Zoey and her team into incubus-killing machines. You can’t hurt your soul-mate. There’s nothing that prevents her from hurting you. That’s another tragic story behind Rule One, but that’s for another time,” Ethan said. “The Sucubatti want a war with us, and they’ve been quietly biding their time to design a warrior capable of defeating the strongest members of our society. Once we’re out of the way, the Cambions will be less effective than a speed bump.”
Declan absorbed the information. There was quiet pain and guilt in his father’s features. The shadow of his mother’s death had never left Ethan. Torn between reassuring his father that his soul-mate’s death was not his fault and hunting down Olivia to slaughter her before she laid a hand on Zoey, Declan stood frozen in powerless anger, knowing his father was right. To rock the boat at the wrong time meant that everyone he cared about suffered.
His father, the strongest man he knew, hadn’t been able to protect his soul-mate. What made him think he could help Zoey?
The destructive thought robbed him of breath. Declan pushed it away.
“You’ve got a better head on your shoulders than I did,” Ethan added. “You’re doing what I should have and using your position to protect the woman you love. I was too weak, too angry and emotional.” The words were filled with remorse.
“Dad, I-”
“It will come to a head at some point, though, Declan.” Ethan rested his hands on Declan’s shoulders. “You need to be ready to make a tough choice.”
“I won’t lose Zoey.”
“I know. But there will be implications, depending on what route you take to protect her. Our plan can’t work right now, not until Olivia is isolated. Keep that in mind.”
The warning hit him harder than the truth about his mother’s death. Unable to summon a response, Declan nodded. His insides twisted again, the way they did when he discovered how he’d been cheating on Zoey in a drugged state. He wished they had known each other longer than three days. If so, she might have realized he never would have cheated, and that he truly believed he was with her. “Something will change,” he said at last. “Something has to.”
“I hope so, Son.”
Declan watched his father deftly go about preparing dinner, the weight of his world heavier this night, the reality of how events were unfolding enough to prevent him from sleeping ever again.
He reached into his pocket, where he’d tucked a container of sleeping pills. Doubtful he’d ever get to use them, he nonetheless kept them around, in case he reached a point where he wasn’t able to function at all or he was assured of Zoey’s safety.
I won’t be using these anytime soon. Declan leaned against the counter, the emotions he kept suppressed struggling to the surface.
Nothing and no one was going to hurt his soul-mate. He had to figure out a way to help her.
Ethan pulled his vibrating phone from his pocket. “The Council green lighted the meeting with Zoey,” he said, reading the message. “Tomorrow night. That fuck head Paul is coming with me, though, and they expect us to bring her back in cuffs.”
“That’s not gonna happen,” Declan replied. “I don’t care what they tell you to do.”
“Then I suggest you plan to be there and tell her what to expect.”
Declan whipped out his phone to text her. Council will meet you tomorrow night. They want to capture you. Plan accordingly. Clicking send, he started to set the cell aside and then stopped, clenching it. It was his only real connection to her. Letting it go after hearing his father’s story only seemed to increase the physical distance between them.
She responded quickly. I’ll send coordinates and time. I could use a favor.
Surprised, he debated how to respond. His normal answer was curtailed by his guilt and fear of pushing her away. What? He texted.
“She agree to meet?” Ethan glanced up from the stove.
“Yeah. Said she’d pick the place.”
“Fine with me.”
The addresses of all the Incubatti Councilmembers. Zoey texted.
Declan lowered the phone. The information was carefully guarded, and there was a risk in leaking it that someone could piece together which of the few incubuses possessing the information had given it to Team Rogue. He hesitated only a moment longer before his thoughts returned to the fate of his mother and the fact the Incubatti Council sanctioned the murder of innocent humans.
It wouldn’t be the only risk he took. Every time Zoey had a blackout, Declan disappeared to check on her, and he had secret surveillance on her on nights when he wasn’t there to watch over her. The idea that Zoey was doing what was right, was trying to make the world a better place, and faced the same fate his mother had made up his mind.
Declan copied and pasted the information from his records into the text box and sent it, not even bothering to add a caveat about not attacking them outright. For once, he wasn’t able to see the bigger picture, the greater good, not after learning that his mother had been slaughtered by the IAB while his father was forced to sit on the sidelines instead of reacting.
“Do you ever feel like what we do isn’t enough?” he whispered, gazing at his phone.
“Yeah,” Ethan replied. “Every day since your mother died.”
“This has to end.”
Declan bit back his response.
“Really,” Ethan said, a sad smile pulling up the corners of his mouth. “We’re closer than we’ve ever been. Let it go for now, Declan. I think your girl is the piece we didn’t have in our puzzle before, the person who can catalyze change. Wait a little longer and see what happens.”
The plan their father hatched long ago – of an Incubatti society without the poisonous Cambions – had been postponed when Zoey went rogue and Olivia offered a temporary truce. Politics had become quickly much more convoluted when Paul was elevated to a Councilmember. Unlike the Halflings in the Sucubatti’s ranks, Cambions held full membership in the Incubatti society.
Zoey’s Team Rogue was an opportunity to start the dirty work, the elimination of the creatures that preyed on innocent humans.
I can’t wait too long. Declan didn’t speak, too disturbed to know what to say.
Chapter Eight: Empowered
Zoey spent the next day tracking down all the Halflings, taking stock of what weapons and gear they’d been able to salvage from the fire, and replacing everything they needed that was lost to the fire. Only two Halflings had minor burns, but another seven suffered seizures during the day, brought on by the stress. She used the petty cash taken from Declan’s box to pay for horse-grade sedative and moved the affected girls to a hotel over a hundred mile away.
The core members of Team Rogue managed to buy food, weapons, high tech computer and medical equipment for Chrissy, and rent two more storage facilities, one east of DC and the other West of DC, where they divided up and stationed the healthy Halflings.
Exhausted from the day of activity, none of which included killing Cambions or figuring out how to find where Olivia was hiding the solution to the Halflings’ curse, Zoey greeted the nightfall with relish. Meeting with the Incubatti and Sucubatti Councilmembers was like a trip to the spa after her day.
She emerged from the basement that had acted as the original headquarters for Team Rogue when they first broke away from the Sucubatti. The summerhouse in northern Virginia belonged to Lydia’s adopted sister and was unoccupied.
