Betrayer (Hidden Book 7)

by Colleen Vanderlinden

  “Maybe,” she agreed. She sobered again. “There was also one final thing I was able to get from Alecto before I killed her.”

  I steeled myself, the worried look on Mollis’s face telling me I was about to hear something I would rather not. “And?” I asked.

  She got up and paced across the spacious room. “There were thirteen original Guardians,” she began, and I nodded, even as my heart sank. I wanted nothing further to do with any of my sisters, or to hear about them. More than anything, I wanted to forget their betraying existence entirely. “You captured Delo, Anthousa, and Kleio. I destroyed them, as we discussed,” she mentioned, and I nodded. “I was able to verify that I did manage to actually kill six of them in the Nether. They are entirely dead. Alecto and her people did look, but it looks like those six died before the others learned how to fake their deaths.”

  The sisters who had stayed alive, despite being cut with Mollis’s blade, had faked their deaths by rematerializing and holding a glamour to make it look as if they had fallen to dust before her. It was a rather ingenious move, and one that I did not believe they had come up with on their own.

  “That leaves three of us,” I said, and Molly nodded.

  “Right. That leaves you. Two of your sisters are unaccounted for. Alecto didn’t know anything about Amalia or Zara.”

  I did not respond.

  “Neither of them were involved with Alecto’s plot with Hermes, either,” Mollis continued, watching me slowly.

  “Yet neither of them has presented themselves to help, knowing they are sorely needed,” I said. “So at the very least, they are cowards. And just because they were not directly working with Alecto it does not mean that they were not still working against you.”

  “But there’s the possibility that they weren’t working against me. And, whether they were or not is irrelevant. They are loose ends that we need to tie up.”

  “You want me to find them.”

  She smiled. “When you get a spare minute, you know,” she joked, and I shook my head. She sobered again. “If they’re cowards, then whatever. We’ll just know where they are and to check on them if we need to. If they’re working against me, then we bring the pain.” She paused. “But it’s entirely possible that they’re out there, and not evil jackasses, and maybe they need help.”

  We sat in silence for several moments. I was relieved to hear that the whereabouts of most of my sisters was known, and that they no longer marred the name “Guardian.” But that possibility, even the slight one, that the ones who still remained were not working for the enemy was almost too much for me to take in just then.

  The silence was interrupted by another knock at the door, and Hephaestus poked his head in.

  “There’s my little nightmare,” he boomed, and I smiled. He was carrying a large duffel bag, and he set it on the floor as he came to me. Mollis got up, and then Hephaestus crouched in front of me and took my face between his palms, placing a warm kiss on my forehead.

  “You scared the shit out of me,” he said. “And I am going to rip Triton’s fuckin’ head off as soon as I get a hold of the bastard.”

  “I love you too, you great oaf,” I said, and he grinned, then took my hands in his.

  “I tried to get a second to see you before everything went nuts,” he said, and I nodded.

  “I know. I meant to come and see you.”

  “Well. I decided to come to you. I don’t want this to wait.” He paused. “Your team… they did real good, E. My son is home because of them, and the only reason that is possible is because they were trained by the best.”

  “They were fairly amazing before I met them,” I said with a smile, touched by his words.

  “But you’re the rock. You’re what inspires them. Hell, you’re what inspires me sometimes. You were my only friend for so long, and I hope you know what a gift that was.”

  I blinked back the tears that threatened. “Your friendship was a gift as well. And continues to be,” I told him.

  He grinned. “My stories. You love ‘em.”

  I rolled my eyes, and he laughed.

  “I went to work making these right after your team brought Michael home,” he said, dragging the bag over and unzipping it. He handed a leather sheath to me, and I looked at him questioningly. I put my hand around the handle that was sticking out of the top of the sheath, and pulled out a dagger, its black metal blade gleaming in the warm light of my room. I could feel its power, and I stared at Hephaestus.

  “I have six of those,” he said. “Made by my my own two hands of metals found only beneath the soil of the Netherwoods, blessed by the Goddess of Death Herself.”

  I shot a surprised look at Mollis, and she smiled.

  “I cannot believe…. Thank you,” I said, awestruck.

  “I have no idea if they are as good as those I created before. I don’t know if the metal here is as strong as it was there,” he cautioned. “Though we did test them out on one of the undead Molly was about to destroy, and it seemed to hurt a lot.”

  “I do not know how to thank you, my friend,” I said to him, and he grinned.

  “All the thanks are mine to give, E. Thank you and your team for finding my son.”

  I nodded, and he leaned forward and hugged me, being careful not to hug too hard.

  He glanced at Mollis, then back at me. “I should go now. Meaghan is still not quite comfortable when I’m away, after all of that.”

  “I completely understand. Thank you again. And give my regards to Meaghan,” I said, and he pressed another kiss to my forehead, and then he was gone. I sat admiring the blade for a few moments. My team would be honored, as was I.

  Mollis and I sat in silence for a few moments, and she ran her fingers through her hair. “Your team is looking for more New Guardians?”

  “When they are not hunting down and destroying undead, yes.”

  “They brought one for me to look at, and she seems like she’ll fit in really well with you team. She’s staying in one of the rooms downstairs. I figured you wouldn’t want her out hunting until you’d gotten to know her a bit.”

  I nodded. “I will pay a visit later as well.”

  “No rush. Seriously, rest up, E. It’s not like she’s going anywhere.” She sighed. “I think I need you in Whitechapel when you’re able. As much as I love having you here, that area needs a calming presence, and I can’t think of anyone better suited to it than you.” She grimaced. “I know you miss the loft. I know how much that meant to you, to be home.” She met my eyes. “But I think you’ve changed too, since you’ve come back. Maybe you’re starting to realize that home means something a little different to you than it did before.”

  Brennan’s face came to mind, and she smiled, having caught it.

  “Exactly,” she said softly.

  “His work is here,” I reminded her.

  “We both know he hates his job. Take the man with you. He has no reason to keep that job anymore. We’re out in the open. He bought us time and privacy, and it was exactly what we needed. Now he can move on.”

  “We will see,” I said noncommittally, and she rolled her eyes.

  “Good talk, E,” she said, and I shook my head.

  “I hate Whitechapel,” I told her.

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  I waved it off. “Make sure you keep in close communication with Rayna. They are running into the undead too, and it is affecting their people.”

  “How?”

  “It seems to kill them. The blood, I suppose.”

  “Oh, shit. Yeah, we’ll have to get the word out about that. I’ll make sure to keep Rayna updated.”

  I nodded. “And keep yourself together, demon girl. The only reason I am not fighting you on this Whitechapel thing is because I know so many are in that area. Perhaps our shadowy figure still lurks there, as well. But I will not be here to talk you down. If you need me, do not hesitate to come to me.”

  “I won’t. I am getting better. Your team is ma
king a difference, and… I don’t know. Things changed the moment I had Hades back. I feel more focused than I have ever felt in my life. It was like I was given a second chance, and I’m not going to waste it.”

  “Good.”

  “Keep your ass safe, E. Don’t make me go through that again,” she said. “That was a nightmare.”

  “Trust me, I will do my level best not to get my ass handed to me. Seriously, do you people think I do this on purpose?” I asked her, and she laughed.

  I sat there for a while with my best friend, knowing life was sending us on our separate paths once again, and hoping that when it was all over, we would find one another still sane and whole.

  Epilogue

  I stood in the living room of Brennan’s home, looking at the piles of boxes heading to storage, the suitcases piled by the door, awaiting our departure. His household… our household, packed up and ready for the next stage of our journey. We would be leaving in the morning.

  Sean slept in his room, and Artemis and Asclepius were out, taking advantage of the quiet to enjoy one another’s company. We had returned to the loft earlier in the evening for a going away dinner, the entire team gathered around the gleaming dining room table, children laughing and running around us all as we ate and talked and laughed.

  Brennan carried one last box into the room and set it by the front door. We had a flat waiting for us in Whitechapel, and had been rematerializing things there throughout the past couple of days. A shifter from one of the packs would be moving into Brennan’s childhood home, and I knew that while Brennan would miss the house, he also wanted to give the shifter and his young family a chance to live in a place that had brought him so much happiness. In the past few days, he had cut so many ties to things that had once bound him to Detroit, and while I was concerned at first that it would cause him sadness, he seemed to lighten with each tie he severed.

  And I realized how badly he had needed to cut himself loose from certain things. There was a new energy to him, an enthusiasm I had not seen before. Perhaps he had been like that earlier in his life. He had spoken before about how he had once loved travel. It seemed like a new chapter for him.

  And for me, I thought as I watched him head back into his room, the room we had been sharing for the past few nights after I had finally convinced Mollis that I was more than well enough to get up and get back to work.

  Brennan came back into the room and sat on the sofa beside me. I climbed onto him, straddling his lap and resting my arms around his waist.

  “I was never one of those touchy-feely types,” I said as I rested my head on his shoulder. He settled his hands on my hips.

  “I’m a bad influence on you,” he said, a smile in his voice.

  “No. Never that,” I told him, and he squeezed my hips gently. I pressed my lips to the side of his neck, then nuzzled him, and he gave my hips a squeeze. How I loved the warmth of his hands on me.

  “Eunomia,” he said, and I looked up at him, leaning back so I could see his face, the tight anxious tone of his voice drawing my concern. Despite his enthusiasm for this next part of our lives, he had been progressively more nervous all day, and I had attributed it to the fact that we would be leaving home, family, and team behind.

  “What is it, my love?”

  He dug into his pocket, and when he pulled his hand out, it was closed around something. I looked at him questioningly.

  He slowly opened his hand, and in his palm sat two silver bands, a matching set. I met his eyes, even as my heart pounded.

  “These belonged to my parents,” he said. “Ada told me, once I was old enough to understand, that they would have wanted me to have them, to give to the woman I was going to spend my life with.”

  “I… Mollis did not wear this,” I said, knowing that the only ring she wore in her time with Brennan had been Nain’s.

  “No. She didn’t. I think maybe I knew even then… like I said before, it was instinct and automatic and I still don’t understand it all. I think somehow I knew it wouldn’t last forever.”

  “And you think we will?” I asked softly, almost afraid to say the words.

  He tilted my face up, drawing my gaze away from the rings. “I know so. What about you?”

  I smiled, and picked up the larger of the two rings. I held his left hand in mine. “It goes on this finger, yes?” I asked, double-checking.

  “Yes,” he answered, the slightest of smiles on his lips.

  I slid the band onto his finger, ran my fingertips over it. The sense of rightness, of home, was so strong my heart felt full. “You are mine, for the rest of our impossibly long lives, and even after that, Brennan Matthews,” I said, meeting his eyes. These were the only marriage vows we would ever need, these simple words said between the two of us. There was no magic here, no instinctual or blood bonds. Just the two of us, and the knowledge that, strange as it seemed, as different as we were, our devotion to one another was complete, and pure. I was his in a way I never would have imagined, not in all the years of my long existence. And he was mine.

  He picked up the other ring and slid it onto my ring finger. “Yours, Eunomia,” he said. “And I swear I’m going to be the man you deserve.”

  “Just be yourself, husband of mine. It is all I want from you.”

  He grinned, and leaned forward and kissed me, and I started to believe that perhaps life in Whitechapel would not be too horrid, after all.

  * * *

  Clouds passed across a waning moon as a figure moved through the dark, silent forest of the Netherwoods. Or, it may have been a figure. It was more the sense of something being there, the feeling that there was more than the things that could be seen with the naked eye. Maybe it was the way the grasses moved, as if something or someone had brushed past them.

  Another figure joined the first, this one in shadow.

  “I am sorry. We failed to destroy the troublesome Guardian,” the unseeable figure said.

  “It is of no matter,” said the other in a gentle voice. “Damage has been done, and that is always to our advantage.”

  “She will continue to be a problem,” the first argued.

  “She is of no consequence,” the shadowy one said calmly.

  “She will hunt the undead. We know this. All of our hard work will be undone. She has taken our servants to the pretender who calls herself a Queen.”

  The shadowy figure laughed, and its laugh was bright and clear and did not at all fit its dark presence. “Oh, my dear, she is nothing. A gnat against the likes of us. Our goal is in sight.”

  “Do you forget what she is? She is unstoppable. A psycho even among the psychos she calls friends. A zealot,” this last said with obvious distaste.

  “Ah, but a zealot can be put to work.”

  “Not this one. She cannot be bought, swayed, or turned. It has been tried, and it has failed.”

  The shadowy figure laughed again. “Perhaps not before. But everyone has a weakness, darling, and we finally know hers.”

  After a moment, their soft laughs whispered through the woods, and then, as if they had never been there at all, they were gone.

  THE END

  Eunomia will return in the next HIDDEN: SOULHUNTER book Zealot

  * * *

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  * * *

  Zealot: Chapter One

  “I hate this place,” I muttered as I stabbed my Netherblade into the back of another undead. It had been my fifth of the night, while my New Guardians had brought four wandering souls back to Mollis in the Netherwoods.

  “Yeah. You may have mentioned that,” Brennan said. I stepped back and he used Hades’ sword to finish the undead off for good. “I don’t know,” he continued as we watched the body fall away. “Without all of the undead running around, it w
ouldn’t be so bad.”

  I gave a noncommittal grunt, and we continued down the street. This area of the neighborhood had continued to be the worst. Eveline, the vile, conniving undead who had been known during her human life as “Jack the Ripper” had done an extremely thorough job of populating the area she had once called home with the flesh-hungry monsters that had caused so much chaos across the globe in the past month or so. And while Brennan and I had been in Whitechapel for over two weeks, some days it felt as if we had barely begun to put a dent in it.

  “‘Ey,” a deep voice called from our left. We glanced that way, and there was an older man looking out of a third floor window of one of the many tall, narrow brick buildings that surrounded us. “I saw another one o’ those bastards running up Furbough.”

  “Thank you,” I called up to him, and he gave me a thumbs-up and slammed his window shut, pulling a window shade down.

  I turned my gaze to Brennan.

  “At least that one didn’t throw anything at us,” he joked, and I shook my head. The humans of Whitechapel had been though living hell since Eveline had decided to make the area her own personal undead factory. And while she was, thankfully, no longer among the living, or even the undead, the effects of her insanity and ambition yet lingered. So many humans had died at the hands of Eveline’s undead that we still had not caught up with all of the souls, though my team was working almost nonstop.

  The police and emergency services had been going door to door, apartment to apartment, searching for the bodies that remained. And while there were a few scattered in sheltered areas, most of the bodies had been found right out on the streets. At the end of Eveline’s days, the undead had run rampant, and any unfortunate human who had been unlucky enough to be out on the streets, in the open, had been almost certainly murdered and sometimes turned to undead themselves.