by Sophie Davis
Janelle and Cadence also said they wanted to go on to London. Relief flooded me, knowing they were all onboard. Working with Victoria’s seasoned lackeys was always a little awkward.
Most of the veteran UNITED agents resented taking orders from anyone who was new to the organization. But it felt like they took extra offense when I was in any position of authority. Some because of my age. Others because of my seeming inexperience. And many didn’t trust me simply because I was Created. They worried that I would go rogue on a mission and start a killing spree.
When one idiot voiced the concern aloud in a mission briefing, Victoria’s assurance hadn’t exactly eased the concerns. She’d actually declared that being created had nothing to do with my short fuse or homicidal tendencies. That it was simply my nature, with or without the Creation drug. Obviously, that was super helpful.
Unfortunately, she had a point.
No one seemed to have an appetite after learning about the Poachers, and breakfast ended pretty quickly. Frederick assured Amal that the food was, as always, excellent, and we were all just too anxious to eat much. When he turned his big brown eyes and boyish smile on her, the waitress melted.
Yep, she totally had a crush on Henri’s boyfriend.
I instructed the team to be at the hoverpad at 9:50 a.m., then we all split off to go back to our rooms to pack. Erik and I took the elevator down to our floor with Penny and Brand. We split up in the hallway, and I entered the door to our suite with a purpose.
“So, I started to tell you this earlier…,” I began as soon as Erik and I were alone.
“I like the sound of that,” Erik teased, taking a step forward.
“I really want you to come to London with me,” I said in a rush, working hard to ignore the glint in Erik’s eye. Despite everything, he was still in a playful mood and I wanted to take advantage of it.
“And I want to be wherever you are, Tals. For instance, if you were in the bedroom, I—”
“I’m serious, Erik. If the Poachers have Kenly, I’m going after them. I’m not waiting for back up.”
Erik’s jaw stiffened and his expression turned somber. He pulled me over to the couch and plopped down, tugging me to sit next to him.
“I know you are.”
“I need you there.”
“You don’t need anyone, Tals.”
Wrapping an arm around my waist, Erik pulled me closer until I was practically in his lap. He kissed the top of my head.
“I do. I need you,” I argued, my words carrying a deeper meaning.
“I know,” he said simply, his voice soft.
“Good. You should know that.”
Even though I had a point, I nuzzled in closer to him, unable to help myself.
“I want you to come with me, Erik.”
“And I want to. I do. But I meant what I said about helping Victoria,” he said. “Besides, you’ll have Henri, Frederick, Penny, and the others.”
I craned my neck to look up at him.
“First of all, having them isn’t the same as having the person I trust most, and you know it. Secondly, I understand, and agree, that being Victoria’s poster boy is super important. Just hear me out. Okay?”
Reluctantly, I pulled away from him so we were looking each other square in the eye.
“I support whatever you decide as far as that’s concerned,” I said, pausing to be certain he understood that I meant it.
Even if you didn’t ask my opinion, the hurt-girlfriend within me added without warning. The rogue feeling had slipped out unbidden before I could lock it behind my mental walls. Erik pursed his lips. He’d heard it. Before he could say a word, I rushed on with my campaign.
“But I also think that the council and their Created marketing campaign can wait another day or two, right? It will take Victoria that long to organize whatever she’s planning. We won’t be in London for very long, I promise. Just long enough to talk to the tipster, find out what he knows, and rescue Kenly.”
Erik laughed at my reasoning.
“You make it sound so easy, Tals. We both know it’s not going to be easy at all. These people, the Poachers—we don’t even have any intel on them yet. A rescue attempt could take weeks to plan.”
“Maybe it will take more than a day or two,” I admitted. “But ever since Victoria asked you to do this for her, you’ve been thinking about the terms and conditions of the deal. So what about telling her you’ll do it, if you can go with me to London first?” When he didn’t answer right away, I added, “Please?” for good measure.
In truth, all I had to do for Erik to unquestionably agree was put a little something extra behind my plea, just a tiny bit of manipulation. But I didn’t. I wouldn’t. No tricks. No games. We were too deep in our relationship for me to ever do something like that. Besides, I wanted the decision to be his and his alone. In typical girl fashion, I wanted him to want to do it.
Erik sighed and averted his gaze. His refusal stung. Especially since it had nothing to do with Victoria’s mandate that he not go. That much was evident.
My infamously quick temper flared. I jumped off of his lap and rounded to face him, knocking over the coffee table in the process.
“Why not?” I demanded, sounding like a petulant child and not caring in the least.
Even as I did it, I was fully aware that I was being both irrational and unfair. Though I knew his denial wasn’t because of me—I had no doubt that Erik wanted to be with me—I couldn’t help but feel like it was personal. Regardless of everything else, I should be reason enough for him to say yes.
In a blur of motion, Erik was on his feet. Strong hands closed around my arms and electricity crackled in the air, causing the lights in the suite to flicker. His anger was palpable and matched my own. I stood my ground and refused to back down, even though the fire in Erik’s eyes was threatening to burn a hole through me. The anger flew from his mind. In that instant, I realized his reluctance had nothing to do with me and everything to do with Kenly.
“She tried to kill you, Talia! Did you somehow forget that? She pulled a knife on you, and tried to kill you. Yet you are ready to risk your life for her. You want to know why not? I want to know why?”
Involuntarily, I winced at the venom in his words.
Erik closed his eyes, visibly straining to reign in his fury.
“I’m sorry,” he said in a low voice. “I know she means a lot to you, which is why I let her go in D.C. It’s why I didn’t say anything when Victoria brought up the mission. Why I didn’t try to talk you out of it before. Why I haven’t said anything at all.”
Erik seemed to deflate then, all the anger gone. He suddenly looked lost.
“Seriously, Tals, she tried to kill you,” he repeated quietly. “I can’t just let that go. I’m sorry…. I really am. I still hate her for ever putting that image in my mind. For ever making me think for an instant that I might lose you. I hate her for ever laying a hand on you.
“Which is why I shouldn’t go with you. I’m not objective where you’re concerned. I want to help you, to be there with you. I want to take down these creeps as much as you do. But with Kenly in the equation, I’m just not sure it’s such a good idea. Every time I think about what she almost did to you…I don’t know, Tals. I just lose it. I don’t know if I can control that.”
Erik shrugged his shoulders helplessly and looked down at the floor.
My anger faded in the blink of an eye. The scene from the Hamilton on that fateful night weeks before filled my mind. Kenly pulled a knife on me. She’d pressed it into my skin, was only seconds away from plunging the tip into my chest. Except, she didn’t.
For a trained soldier, disobeying orders was hard enough. But it was more than that. It was like she’d been programmed. Kenly hadn’t been herself. She didn’t recognize me as her friend, her mentor. In her skewed perspective, I’d been nothing more than a specified target. Mercifully, in the end, the spell Mac had put on her failed.
More likely, I realiz
ed in that moment, it was Gretchen. The only Mind Manipulator I’d encountered whose powers rivaled mine in that area.
Regardless, it didn’t work as completely as it was supposed to. She made a choice of her own free will. Kenly didn’t kill me, as she was supposed to, when it would have been so easy to do. Something within her, something that had been buried beneath the propaganda, stopped her.
So, I didn’t blame her for what she’d almost done.
And yet, I could understand why Erik did. He’d lost so much in his lifetime. I understood why he refused to see another person he loved be injured or killed because of TOXIC.
Closing the distance between us, I wrapped my arms around Erik’s waist and concentrated on pouring every ounce of love I felt into him. His hands slid around to my back. Resting my cheek against his chest, I felt the accelerated beating of Erik’s heart. I squeezed him tighter.
“I can’t lose you, Tals. I need you, too. I do. I know we’ve been through a lot of really dangerous shit. But that is the only time I’ve truly thought you might die. It was agony.”
“I know,” I sent back. “But she wasn’t herself, Erik. Please trust me. I know her, and she wasn’t herself. It’s just like Harris. Someone messed with her head.” Choosing my next words carefully, I added, “That doesn’t make it okay, and I’m not saying you shouldn’t be mad at her. But Kenly isn’t the only Created the Poachers have. None of them deserve to be treated like merchandise. I know you agree with me on that. And you’re strong. You are the strongest person I’ve ever known. You can handle it. I wouldn’t ask you to if I didn’t genuinely believe that you can.
Tipping my head back to meet his eyes, I searched his beautiful face for some sign that he was relenting. The hard edge that had been there just moments before was gone. A small smile started to lift one corner of his mouth. I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his.
“You are so manipulative,” he sent and deepened the kiss.
From somewhere across the living room, my communicator chirped with an incoming message.
“I am not,” I replied, trying to sound as indignant as possible via mental communication. “I didn’t use a single ounce of my Talents.”
“I wasn’t talking about your Talents and you know it.”
The volume on the communicator raised an octave.
Erik picked me up and spun me around before tossing me onto the couch. I let loose a small squeal as I landed on the soft cushions, bouncing once before Erik jumped on top of me. He caught himself, with one hand planted on either side of my head, careful not to crush me with his weight.
“Incoming call from Victoria Walburton,” a stilted mechanical voice announced, the sound muffled. My communicator had, apparently, fallen under a piece of furniture when I knocked over the coffee table.
Slowly, Erik lowered himself down so his body was pressed against mine. He brought his lips so close that we were breathing the same air.
“You should probably get that,” he murmured.
I closed the minute distance.
“She can wait.”
COUNCILWOMAN VICTORIA WALBURTON hated to be ignored. A fact she made very clear when she pounded on the door to our suite twenty minutes later. Talia, a wreath of wild curls framing her flushed face, was busy trying to smooth her rumpled clothes back into place when I answered Victoria’s knock.
“Sorry. We were, um, talking,” I said sheepishly, in response to her glare.
One look at my hair, mussed from Talia’s fingers running through the strands, and my belt buckle, half undone in my haste to get dressed, and it was clear to anyone with eyes that my girlfriend and I had not spent the last half hour talking. Unfortunately, Victoria was not amused. She brushed passed me without waiting for an invitation.
“I have been calling you,” she said, directing her ire at Talia.
Despite her best efforts, Talia blushed. And, for once, she didn’t have a quick retort. Scrutinizing the living room, Victoria did a double-take when she noticed the upended coffee table.
“Doing some redecorating?” she asked breezily.
Talia’s blush deepened and I had to stifle my laugh. I loved seeing her like that.
“Nah, Tals is just frisky,” I deadpanned, walking over to join her on the couch.
“Erik! Are you kidding me?” she groaned inside my head.
Victoria crossed her arms over her chest, looking impossibly less amused than she had when she entered the apartment.
“You seem to have forgotten than you have a rather critical mission in front of you. Are you ready to go, Agent Lyons? Have you picked your team?”
“Yes and yes.” Talia rattled off the names, then turned and narrowed her gaze on me. “Although, there is something Erik wanted to mention.”
Victoria quirked an eyebrow.
I cleared my throat, picking up on Talia’s not-so-subtle cue to say something.
“I have my decision for you, about being the face of the Created,” I said.
Golden eyes alight, Victoria’s sour expression turned hopeful.
“I’m onboard,” I continued. “On one condition, though.”
Frowning now, Victoria shook her head.
“Just one? This has to be a first for you two. It’s never that easy. Let’s hear it.”
“I go with Talia to London first.”
The councilwoman opened her mouth to argue, but I plunged forward. Recounting the same argument Talia had given me earlier with a few tweaks. Truthfully, I had misgivings about whether this was really such a good idea. Just the thought of Kenly Baker, with that damned knife in her hand, made me crazy. I didn’t want to do that girl any favors. If it were up to me alone, if it wasn’t something that mattered to the girl I loved, Kenly could rot for what she’d done. Not to mention, I absolutely wanted to help all of the people who weren’t Kenly that the Poachers were holding captive.
Objectively, I understood that what had happened wasn’t entirely Kenly’s fault. But, like I’d told Talia, it was freaking hard to be objective when my only real encounter with her mentee was that night at the Hamilton. Brainwashed or not, Kenly had nearly robbed me of the best thing in my life. And I was never going to forget that, regardless of the circumstances.
“You have yourself a deal, Agent Kelley,” Victoria declared before I’d even finished listing off all of the reasons she should let me go to London.
“Really?” Talia blurted out. “What’s the catch?”
“There is no catch, Agent Lyons,” Victoria answered evenly. “Erik is a valuable asset to the mission, one that you very might well need. Besides, the two of you work best together. The more I considered the dangers associated with going up against the Poachers…I had already reconsidered my earlier stance.”
“Let it go, Tals,” I warned. Talia’s thoughts had immediately launched into a defensive, wanting to know why Victoria didn’t just say so when she’d walked in. Luckily, as quick as Talia was with a retort, my mind worked a little faster these day. Talia rolled her eyes, her endearing trademark move, but didn’t give voice to her annoyance.
“Love you,” I added with a smile.
“However,” Victoria said loudly, her annoyance evident. “Cadence Choi is not cleared to go with you. The others are all fine. But the doctors still have some concern over Agent Choi’s health. She does not appear to be healing quite as well as we’d have hoped. I cannot authorize her inclusion at this time. Besides, right now she and her abilities are most useful on Vault. The progress she is making with the children in containment is remarkable. By the time you return from London, some of them might even be ready to answer some questions.”
A niggling feeling of guilt made my stomach twinge. Cadence had been badly injured helping me rescue my father and brothers from TOXIC. Being Talented, she should have healed quickly. Something about our genes made our bodies mend much faster than a normal human. Since I saw her almost every day, I knew the leg she’d broken was still bothering her. There was also some
thing off with her Light Manipulation—she was having trouble using it with any reliability, like her Talent was broken or something. Nonetheless, I was surprised to learn that her injuries were still grievous enough to keep her from active duty. I didn’t know it was that bad.
“Angus O’Malley will accompany you instead,” Victoria was saying. “I was going to send him with you anyway, since he is very knowledgeable about the Poachers. Any other questions?”
Talia and I both shook our heads.
“Good. You have thirty minutes before departure, so I suggest you both get packed and save the ‘talking’ for a more opportune time.” She turned her attention on me alone. “Erik, I will inform the council of your decision. We can go over the specifics when you return.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” I said obediently.
“Suck up,” Talia quipped, shooting a ray of sunshine within me along with her teasing.
It was moments like that one, when Talia was joking with me inside my head when we were supposed to be serious, that I regretted shutting her out so much. Even in her darkest moods, Talia had the uncanny ability to bring light into my life. Only fear kept the barriers in place. Fear of adding to her pain. Fear of my darkness engulfing her, taking her down with me.
“You will report back to me at every step of the way, do you understand me?”
Victoria’s voice startled me out of my dismal thoughts. Apparently she’d dismissed us, making it all the way to the door before I noticed.
“Of course,” Talia answered for both of us. I added a nod for good measure.
With that, the councilwoman finally left.
We went to the bedroom and hurriedly packed, skipping over what I was already thinking of again—my favorite bedroom activity. After throwing several days’ worth of clothes into UNITED-issue duffle bags, Talia and I headed up to meet the others at the hoverpad. Victoria had said she would handle explaining to Cadence why she was ineligible for the mission, but Talia felt the need to comm our friend anyway. She was worried that Cadence would be upset. It was funny, since the two girls’ road to friendship had been rocky. In fact, they’d basically hated each other from day one. All that had changed when Cadence helped Talia and I ferret Alex, Donavon’s son, out of D.C. Now the two girls were pretty tight. I was glad.
