Deadly Trade- The Complete Series

by Jessica Gunn

  “You?” Will asked, pretending to be shocked. “Never.”

  I smirked despite the hallow truth. “Brian’s alive. He’s been this entire time. Somehow, he survived the crash.”

  Will’s eyes widened, his mouth dropping open. “What?”

  “Pretty much what I said.” My words were even, as if this hadn’t bothered me at all. “He’s here now—somewhere. Dacher swore he never knew. Brian’s been hiding out with Hydron this entire time.”

  “The CIA group?” Will asked.

  Sometimes, even now, I forgot how much Will didn’t know about the Hunter Circles. “Yeah. Apparently, he’s got a cousin in Hydron who helped him cover up his not-so-permanent death. He only revealed himself now likely due to Bria’s need for help finding a cure to Veynix’s venom, and now this new poison sweeping magik-users in Boston. Turning you into Ember witches.”

  Will was quiet for a moment, although a torrent of rage flashed in his eyes. “What a bastard.”

  “Yup.”

  “How are you doing with it?”

  I shrugged. “Good thing I mourned over him months ago, isn’t it?”

  Will frowned. “Ava. I know you better than that.”

  “What?” I asked him, my voice raising. “Am I supposed to take him back with open arms after he faked his death? No. I’m sorry, but no. Besides…”

  I wouldn’t say it aloud when I didn’t know for sure, especially after the other night, but whatever was between me and Kian, I kind of liked it. I wanted to see where it was going. And I couldn’t do that if I was constantly assaulted by ghosts from my past.

  Will nodded like he had everything I’d left unsaid. “Besides.” His eyes widened. “Speak of the bastard.”

  I glanced behind me, my hand falling away from the glass. My stomach clenched at the sight of Brian standing in the doorway. He was watching me as though seeing me for the first time.

  “Ghosts after all, then,” I mumbled.

  “I wish I weren’t in here,” Will said.

  I pressed my hand against the glass again. “I’ll be okay. Hang tight, Will. I’ll get you out of here as soon as they let me.

  Then I turned to Brian and asked, “Can we at least do this outside the room?”

  His eyes met mine. It was hard now to not look down at his twisted arm.

  “Yeah,” Brian said, then walked out of the door.

  I followed him, giving Will one last glance over my shoulder.

  I supposed I had to do this eventually.

  My heart leaped into my throat the moment Brian shut the door behind us. We sidetracked into an empty meeting room down the hall from the two quarantine chambers. There might have been no avoiding this conversation entirely, but I’d seriously been hoping to avoid it for way longer than a few hours.

  I crossed the meeting room to a set of windows that overlooked the busy streets of the financial district of Boston. Every time I managed to find a view like this from inside Fire Circle Headquarters, my envy for those people, and their unknowing of the truth of the world, returned.

  But then I remembered that I’d had a chance to walk away from all of this rather than join the Fire Circle, and instead I’d jumped into Hunter life headfirst and had never turned back. Not even at the worst of times.

  It wasn’t only that I could no longer see myself doing anything else. Being a Hunter was the only thing that had ever made sense to me. Until Midnight, anyway.

  “Not going to even look at me?” Brian asked.

  I crossed my arms over my chest and spun to face him. On the surface, Brian looked like the same man I’d fallen in love with well over a year ago. He had the same dark hair and eyes, the same judging look on his face. Only this time, instead of criticizing my ability to get into life-threatening situations for the fun of it, there was something else he was critiquing.

  Or, more likely, a whole lot of somethings.

  “There,” I said. “Happy?”

  His eyes narrowed. “Why are you so mad?” He lifted his hand, pausing for a moment. “Let me take that back. I know why you’re mad. But I don’t understand why you ran away earlier.”

  “Um, maybe because you just flipped my entire world on its head?” My arms fell to my sides. “You were dead, Brian. Right along with the others. If you were hoping to come home and find me elated you’re alive or still mourning or something, I’m sorry. I’ll never forget our team, but I’ve moved on. I didn’t have a choice.”

  Talon was coming for me either way, and although it’d taken me until facing Veynix again to do it, I had moved on from the immense grief and guilt I had for losing my team. Exactly as Jeremy would have wanted in the face of continued danger to me and to Will. And knowing that my team leader would have approved, I didn’t care at all what Brian thought.

  Not anymore.

  “Christine…”

  I shot him a glare and pointed at his chest. “See, that right there. That’s why I walked away from you earlier. It’s Ava now. Christine is as dead as the rest of you. She had to disappear when you did to keep herself safe. My name is Ava Locke. Get it right or don’t talk to me at all.”

  Tears stung my eyes and my chest threatened to cave in with the weight of all the tiny little breaths it wanted to take. I strained to keep myself together, to not fall apart in front of this person who used to mean so much to me. But apart from his outward appearance, twisted arm and all, Brian was a stranger.

  “I’m sorry, Ava,” he said, his voice quiet. “Honestly, I truly mean it. It wasn’t my idea for me to stay hidden for so long.” I went to speak, to contradict him by pointing out that he was his own person, but he held up a hand. “I know that’s bullshit, you don’t need to call me on it. You want the truth? I was scared, okay? Scared of Talon finding me. Of what you’d think.”

  My brow furrowed. “What I would think? You want to know true fear? I’ve spent six of the last nine months trying to scrape together enough money for Will and me to live on, so that we might escape without Talon ever finding me. Spoiler alert: They found us and we both nearly lost our lives. Will is all I have left.”

  Brian pressed his lips together, but thankfully didn’t comment on Will’s name change too. There was no confusion; it was obvious I could only be talking about my best friend.

  “I’m glad he’s okay,” Brian said.

  I took a step toward him. “That’s an awfully vague word for his condition.”

  Brian’s expression softened. “He’s going to be fine. We’re going to find a cure for him and the other witches, and then one for Veynix’s venom.”

  “Would have been nice to have that three months ago.”

  Brian inhaled sharply. “I didn’t want to argue with you.”

  “Then don’t,” I said and then paced away, back toward the window. I pulled in a deep breath to steady my nerves. “Look, I really am glad you’re alive. That you didn’t die that night—don’t get me wrong. But there’s nothing for us here, Brian. Not anymore.”

  “I didn’t pull you aside to profess my love, Ava,” Brian said, watching me carefully. “I’m not stupid. And I didn’t expect you to have not moved on. But I thought you’d at least be willing to hear me out.”

  “To be happy to see you?”

  He nodded. “Sort of, yeah. But I see you’ve found someone else. If somewhere down the line we can at least be friendly again, then I’ll settle for that.”

  Kian. “Yeah, honestly not sure what’s happening there, but sure. Maybe once this stuff with Talon ends.”

  A sudden sensation of awkwardness rushed over me. Like I shouldn’t have been having this conversation with Brian, or be in a room with him alone. Which was weird because a year ago, I couldn’t have imagined ever even not being with Brian romantically.

  “I have to go,” I said as I made my way to the door. “I need to let Ben know that Will is doing okay.”

  “No point,” Brian said as he swiveled to follow me. “Dacher called a meeting a few minutes ago. We’re supposed
to head back down to the great hall. There’s some sort of contact who’s acting as a go-between with Darkness. Something about the poison hitting Boston right now.”

  My brow furrowed. “Seriously?”

  He shrugged. “Guess so.”

  A go-between? Somebody’s getting desperate for answers.

  At least it wasn’t just me.

  Chapter 11

  The scene in the great hall was just like before. Dacher and his Command stood at the front, alongside Ben and the other two Leader candidates, Avery and Cassie. Hydron was there with its agents. Then there were Kian and I, two of the three sole survivors of the chaos at Midnight three months ago.

  One other woman stood next to Ben, unfamiliar to me, though Ben regarded her with a kind smile. She had to be in her mid-thirties, with some strands of gray hair sprinkled throughout blonde. She wore scrubs with an unzipped jacket over them and sneakers on her feet. Maybe she was a nurse from another Circle?

  My stomach dropped. Or she’s the connection to Darkness that Brian mentioned.

  Kian saw me coming down the stairs and stood from his bench to greet me. “How’s Will?”

  “Okay,” I said, stepping away from Brian to sit with Kian. “He’s confused but as okay as he’ll ever be, I think.”

  Brian continued on ahead to his Hydron agent friends. Which was fine because I was pretty sure we’d be done talking for a while, period.

  “Dare I ask how that’s going?” Kian asked quietly, masking whatever his true feelings on the matter were by leaning back and stretching.

  I gave him a sidelong look. “There’s nothing left to be going anywhere. I told you that.”

  Kian shrugged. “Just curious.”

  Was he seriously jealous?

  Dacher dismissed those he was talking to and turned to the crowd gathered near the front of the amphitheater space. “Normally, we wouldn’t be discussing this with quite so many people. But given how much Talon has been influencing or involving all parties here, I thought it best. Besides, I think the time for the old procedures under my predecessor are long since passed.”

  Amen to that. Considering how things had been handled back before Dacher had become Leader of the Fire Circle, I’d take whatever direction Dacher thought was right.

  “To that end,” Dacher continued, “Ben’s contact, Rose Gardner, a nurse at Boston General, is a member of the Rebel Darkness Faction. They’re a group of demons who have organized to work against Darkness, specifically Aloysius’s royal regime. Since last year, she has offered us information about goings-on within their empire, except for things tied directly to Landshaft. In addition to confirming the loss of Ammon as well as Lady Azar, she has also confirmed that Cinead, once third in line to the throne, is now the only surviving heir. He and his White Flame royal guard now control the throne, including Aloysius to some extent.”

  Dacher nodded to Rose, who sat in the front row. “The reason she’s here today is because she came to us with more of the same news we were already expecting regarding the Fire Circle’s magik-users being affected by Talon’s new poison.” At this, Dacher’s expression darkened. “Except now the poison has reached beyond the Fire Circle’s jurisdiction. Rose?”

  Rose stood and faced those of us in attendance. Her voice shook as she said, “Boston General has already received a dozen cases of regular, non-involved humans coming in with the same symptoms as those of the magik-users poisoned yesterday. Fever and chills, erratic, sometimes aggressive behavior. One patient developed the Ember witch ether within an hour of being admitted. The fact that I was assigned to her and therefore cast a requirem is probably the only reason the government and Hydron aren’t in a battle right now.”

  The Hydron agents in the front row exchanged hushed words, but it was Max, Ben’s cousin’s boyfriend, who spoke first.

  “The hospital is aware of the truth?” he asked. “Why haven’t we received word about this yet?”

  “Because these cases started being admitted today,” Rose said. “This is the first chance I’ve had to step away from the hospital, and I must return soon. We have a few other Rebel Darkness members in place as nurses and other staff who can and have been disabling these people’s sudden magik, but I’m afraid we won’t be able to hold out for long. And this is just Boston General. This doesn’t even account for all the cases flooding other area hospitals.”

  Ben sat a few rows ahead of me, closer to the front. He was watching Rose with narrowed eyes. I’d never heard the story behind how he or the Fire Circle had discovered the Rebel Darkness Faction, but it was clear from looking at him that there was more to their relationship than simply this. And also, that he didn’t totally trust her.

  “What exactly can we do?” Avery, another one of the Leader candidates, asked.

  Rose’s expression fell. “Ideally, we stop it altogether. But since that’s likely impossible, I was hoping to get as many Hunters as possible into these hospitals as nurses’ aids. I was hoping between the Fire Circle’s sway and Hydron’s that it’d be possible.”

  “Not sure about that one,” Max said. “Considering we barely knew about the Rebel Darkness Faction until recently.”

  I thought back to a few months ago, when Veynix had returned and Kian and I had been sent to safe house after safe house. The Fire Circle had been hosting some sort of important contingent at the time, making Headquarters—an already dangerous target—too dangerous to add Talon targets into the mix. It must have been Rose and more of her Rebel Darkness Faction members.

  Dacher conferred briefly with his Command. Despite a lot of nodding and whispers, when he finally looked back to Rose, he did so with a frown. “I can offer you maybe a dozen Hunters, maybe two, but with so many with magik who could potentially fall to this poison, it’s a risk we’re not sure if we can take.”

  Words rose to my lips. I bit them back. Was it really my place to speak? I wasn’t on the Command or a Leader candidate. But they’d invited Kian and me here anyway, probably thanks to our experience with Talon.

  I stood, my hands balling into fists at my sides. “Someone has to do something. If you need volunteers, I’m in. This affects all of us and at some point, we’re going to have to react if we have any hope of stopping Talon. Mitigating even a bit of the damage they’re doing is worth the risk.”

  Kian nodded beside me. I knew he’d agree. Besides, we both were definitely done being on house arrest here at Headquarters.

  Dacher inhaled sharply. “I’ll take it under consideration. Thank you for coming here today, Rose. You’re risking a great deal keeping us informed.”

  Ben lifted his chin. Not much, but enough to get his opinion across. What the hell had happened between him and this nurse that he had such clearly strong disdain for her?

  Rose nodded and stuck her hands in the pockets of her jacket. “The Rebel Darkness Faction wants to be allied with the Hunter Circles. We have the same goals. And keeping Talon from having a grip on Boston is a major one.”

  “Then let’s see to it that we stop them,” Dacher said. “I’ll be in contact with you regarding our volunteers. I’ll try to assemble as many as possible, with Hydron’s help, of course. Assuming they still want to continue good relations with us.”

  Dacher then dismissed us all.

  I led Kian out of the great hall and down into a room off the small cafeteria. “Think Dacher is actually going to let us out of here just to be put in the line of fire?”

  “I don’t know,” Kian said, watching the others exit the great hall. Brian and the Hydron agents didn’t pay us any attention. “But anything that gets me out of Headquarters is good enough for me.”

  “My only question is how they’re going to train enough of us to be nurses’ aids overnight without rising suspicion.” Okay, that wasn’t my only question about Rose’s plan, but it was the biggest one.

  Kian turned to me. “Something tells me if that nurse wants her plan to work, Hydron’s going to have to get a hell of a lot more involved
than Dacher wants.”

  “Great.” More reason for they and Brian to stick around. “As long as they develop the platypus venom cure, I’ll be happy.”

  A ring sounded from his pocket. Kian withdrew his phone and picked up the call. “Hello?” His eyes went wide. “Syd?”

  Oh, shit. As far as I knew, Kian hadn’t seen Syd since we’d escaped to her place in London three months ago. Kian must have spoken to her at least once so she knew we’d survived our encounter with Veynix.

  “Slow down, Syd,” Kian said.

  I stepped closer to him. “Is she okay?”

  Kian’s brow furrowed. This close, I could hear her quick words but not make out what they were. “Okay, okay. Where are you right now? Are you safe?” Sydney yelled back something loud that had Kian pulling the phone away from his ear. “Okay! I’ll be right there. Yes, I’ll bring Ava too. I’m with her right now. Bye.”

  Kian hung up the phone and looked at me. “Sydney’s saying a number of the Ember witches she knows, the ones she was protecting by gleaning info from demons at Night Fire earlier this year, are infected and freaking out. She needs help. We need to go—now.” He reached for my arm, readying to teleportante.

  I jumped back out of his range. “Hold on a second.”

  His golden eyes went wild. “Syd’s in danger, Ava. We need to go. She helped when we needed it. It’s time to repay that.”

  “I know,” I said, pleading with him. “But given Dacher could be about to order us to area hospitals, we need to at least let them know where we’re going and why first.”

  Kian’s jaw locked. “There’s no time. She’s at her London flat, locked up in the bathroom because she’s got a half-dozen angry, confused, out-of-control Ember witches tearing up her living room.”

  My heart skipped a beat. “Shit.”

  “Exactly,” Kian said slowly. “Let’s go. We’re going to teleportante in and try to requirem as many as possible right away.”