OMEGA: A New Adult Urban Fantasy (Mackenzie Grey Book 4)

by Karina Espinosa

  Mackenzie: Sleepover?

  Within seconds he responded.

  Bash: It’s about time. I’m on my way.

  Mackenzie: Bring Jonah and Jackson.

  Bash: …

  Mackenzie: Just bring them!

  I called Lucian, but he didn’t answer so I left him a voicemail letting him know to meet at my place and the address.

  When I got to my apartment, Amy was cleaning up the kitchen, her flaming red hair picked up in a messy bun.

  “I had a spill…” she said.

  I chuckled. “As long as it doesn’t look like a crime scene, its all good.”

  While I waited for the others, I ordered a few boxes of pizza. Cassidy, Finn, and Michaels were the first to arrive with the pizza delivery guy.

  We huddled in my living room when Sebastian walked in and got a look at everyone.

  “When you said sleepover, this wasn’t what I had in mind,” his forehead furrowed.

  “Sleepover?” Amy wiggled her brows. “What did I miss?”

  “A lot,” Cassidy smirked.

  “Oh, do tell…” her voice drifted as Jonah and Jackson walked in behind Bash. I wanted to face plant the coffee table.

  “Shit,” I stood quickly. “I forgot to mention it Aims, I just need everyone here and—”

  “It’s okay, Kenz,” she waved me off. Her green eyes locked with Jackson. He glared at her.

  “I’m out of here,” Jackson growled, but Bash grabbed the sleeve of his jacket.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” he commanded.

  “Just because you and her,” Jackson pointed an accusatory finger at me, “are fucking again, doesn’t mean everything is okay!”

  “Jackson!” Jonah gripped the front of his shirt. “Stop it.”

  “You should be pissed too! She screwed with you and look at you now! You ran away to Scotland and then kidnapped by Drusilla. Everything bad that has happened, is because of her! Everyone must see the common denominator here?”

  The room went quiet as everyone tried to avoid looking my way, but ended up anyway.

  “You’re right,” I agreed. “Everything started with me. It’s why I brought you all together—both old and new friends. I need your help and you’re the only ones I trust.”

  “With what, Grey?” Finn asked.

  “I have someone working on the Gate of Horns and Ivory. We should know the location any day now. In the meantime, we need to find out where Andrew and the other Fae are operating from. If we learn where they are, we won’t have to wait for them to attack—we bring the fight to them.”

  “How do you propose we do that?” Lucian said as he entered my apartment that was starting to look a bit too small for the amount of people here.

  I couldn’t hold back the smile that spread through my face. The Head Vampire of New York City was here in his typical all black attire with his blond hair tied at the nape of his neck.

  “Like Jackson said, all of this, from day one when the Brooklyn Pack found me, is my fault, but it’s because I’m—”

  My body locked up, my eyes rolled to the back of my head and I dropped to the ground. Someone caught me, but I was no longer in the living room of my apartment.

  It took me a moment to orient myself, my body was translucent and fizzled in and out like a projection. I spun around and noticed I was somewhere familiar. The decrepit, concrete walls were plastered with life-sized pictures of people, people not from this era. Maybe the early 1900s? It was the same place I’d visited when I had that vision at the airport.

  Since this was a vision, it meant I couldn’t be seen. I ran down the corridor that led to another. I tried to enhance my hearing and heard voices to my left. I followed them and found a room of sorts. There were tables all around with papers and maps. Fae milled around, talking to one another about stuff I couldn’t hear. It was like static and I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Like the frequency of a radio, my hearing calibrated and I listened.

  “It was a success. I don’ see what the problem is,” Andrew said.

  I made my way through the crowd and found him facing a floor-to-ceiling window. I would recognize that floor length, white hair anywhere. Drusilla was beside him.

  “They took Jonah Cadwell. That was not part of the plan. He was my leverage.”

  “We’ll find something else. Mackenzie’s weakness is the people around her. She cares too much for them.”

  She shook her head. “It’s becoming a pattern. We first went after the Lunas, her human friend, then Jonah. They’ll be on alert. We need something else, something she won’t see coming.”

  “We could go after her. She’s vulnerable and linked to the realm. It would be all too easy—I could send the Mad Hatter to retrieve her.”

  I shivered at the mentioned of that psychopath.

  Drusilla turned to him. “You’re still dealing with the Druid?”

  “Aye. He’s loyal and a valuable tool for us. They don’ stand a chance against him.”

  She smirked. “Not yet, Andrew,” she leaned forward and kissed him. Her tongue slid into his mouth and he was all to eager to comply with her demand.

  I gagged. So fuckin’ gross.

  Drusilla pulled away first, taking his hand in hers and bringing his finger into her mouth. She sucked on it like a melting popsicle and I had to look around the room to see if anyone else was watching what was turning into a soft porno.

  “Seriously?” I muttered to myself. “No one?”

  I turned back to the spectacle as she brought his wet hand between her thighs.

  “Just a few more days and this world will be ours. I will be yours. Do not disappoint. Once you take out the rest of the clans, we strike in the heart of the Lycan. When Alexander is overthrown, the others will have no choice, but to bow to us and then we can move on to the final phase of our plan.”

  Andrew stared at her with glossy, dreamy eyes. “The humans.”

  “Yes,” she moaned as Andrew pushed her against the window and took her right there in front of everyone. I turned away.

  That was their plan? Involving the humans?

  I began to fizzle in and out. I’d wasted time listening and not scoping out the surroundings. Before I was brought back to the present, I ran to the window beside them, trying to tune out the wet sound of skin slapping, and looked out of the building.

  “Holy shit…” I muttered before I was pulled out and thrown back into my living room.

  I gasped for air. How could it be? He was right by us? I tried to orient myself again. Everyone was huddled around me and Sebastian was the one holding me—he'd been the one to catch me when I fell. I wasn't surprised. I looked around the room wide-eyed wondering how I could break the news. How had we been so stupid and naïve to not know where he was? The irony was not lost in me.

  “Kenz, are you okay?” Bash asked.

  “Yeah, yeah, I'm fine,” I sat up. “I know where he is. I saw where he is!”

  “Grey,” Michaels interrupted. “I think we have other things to talk about, like what the hell was that?”

  “You're an Oracle. That's what you were trying to tell us,” Jonah said.

  I nodded. I couldn't say it out loud. How could I admit that the one thing that had been a target on my back had been the thing that turned their world upside down from the moment they met me. That because of Adaline, Alexander, and some twisted prophecy the Sisters of the Sight had, I screwed everything up. Of course, I had to throw myself a pity party every single time, this was no different. But surprisingly enough, nobody looked at me oddly. I expected some anger, maybe some weird reaction like I have cancer, but no. Everybody looked at me with shock, but also not so surprised like it all made sense.

  “Pet,” Lucian interrupted. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I hadn't told anyone. I didn't know how to break it to you. How do I tell somebody I'm a freak? The only person who knows is Ophelia because she had a vision before I left Scotland. She told me to find her wh
en the time was right and it sure was. That’s why I asked Alexander to bring her,” I said. “I started having visions a few months ago. I had seen Andrew come out of the lake. I saw him come out of Loch Lomond, but I didn't understand it. I thought I was having a nightmare, but I saw it. I knew it and I didn't stop it. The Fae realms opening is my fault. I should've done something, I should've known, but I didn’t do anything. And now look where we are. Look at the mess I've made.”

  “It's not your fault,” Amy whispered.

  “You couldn't have known they were oracle visions. They aren't always clear,” Lucian said. “They’re impossible to decipher unless you're trained or the Sisters of the Sight guide you.”

  I sighed. “Well, now you know. I think Ranulf knows too, but I haven't spoken to him.” Drusilla sort of gave it away when we were in the Fae realm. I didn’t have the heart to bring the topic up, but his eyes told me all I needed to know. He knew.

  “What now?” Finn asked.

  “Obviously, we can't tell anyone. You'll really become a target then,” Cassidy said.

  I nodded. “Exactly. No one can know. I'm trusting you guys because, well you're the only ones I trust. You’re kind of like my Pack.” For someone who didn’t want to join a Pack, I sure was involved in one.

  “So you know where Andrew is?” Jonah refocused the conversation.

  “Yes and you'll never believe where,” I paused for dramatic effect. “He's on Ellis Island.”

  “Huh?” Amy cocked her head. “What is he doing there?”

  “I don't know,” I shook my head, “but I saw the Statue of Liberty from where he was standing. He was inside a dilapidated building, like nobody had been there in decades. He was with Drusilla—she's here. I went up to the window—please don't ask me what they were doing—but they were looking out into the Hudson and right there in front of them was the Statue of Liberty. Clear as day. There's no other place that they would be unless I'm missing something. It’s Ellis Island.”

  “What about the building?” Jackson spoke for the first time.

  I shifted out of Sebastian’s arms and sat up on my own. “I had a vision of the place before, the building had weird pictures on the walls. They were life-size pictures of people but they were old, like people from maybe the late 1800s, early 1900s? I couldn't make sense of it, but it was odd. They were on the walls, the windows, all over the place. Really creepy.”

  Jackson nodded. “They’re at the Immigrant Hospital.”

  “The what now?”

  “The Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital. It's where the sick and injured immigrants came through once they arrived to the states. They had to go there first before they could be cleared to enter New York.”

  “Oh, how ironic,” Amy said. Jackson ignored her.

  “So that's where they're located?” I asked and he nodded.

  “It's the only place that fits your description. The island has also been temporarily closed to humans.”

  “It's genius,” Finn said. “They're very well hidden and they're able to place a privacy screen over the whole island without anyone noticing.”

  “How can they do that?” Sebastian inquired.

  “The Druid,” Finn said. “He could do just about anything, and if he's still helping them, they have magic we don't.”

  “I think the Druid is the least of our worries,” I said. “I overheard Andrew talking with Drusilla and their plans are a lot bigger than we thought. It’s not just the Lycan they want to take over. They want to take over the world.”

  “We know that already,” Cassidy said.

  I shook my head. “No. I mean they legit want to take over the world—they want to take over the humans.”

  Michaels let out a strained laugh. “That’s ridiculous. They can’t do that,” he looked at our faces and swallowed. “Can they?”

  Sebastian nodded. “They could out us and show the humans there’s a whole supernatural community that lives among them. What their endgame is, I don't know.”

  Jonah’s brows furrowed. “For us to get hunted, or for them to hunt the humans? Are they trying to start a whole new world order?”

  I shrugged. “Whatever the case, that's the last phase of their plan and it's happening soon. They're only going to attack a few more clans and then the Lycan before they go for the humans.”

  Michaels stood from the sofa. “It makes sense. Think about it. How many massacres have the SIU had to cover up within the last few weeks? Hell, the last few months if we count the sacrifices that they've made to open the Fae realms. Too many murders that have been covered up, too much suspicion that would be easy for the humans to take notice. No matter how careful we were erasing their memories and deleting evidence from the internet, there will always be those humans who are sensitive to magic,” Michaels paused. “The minute you're ousted, it would be hard-pressed not to believe. We’re looking at a huge conspiracy here.”

  Damn. When he puts it like that, we’re fucked. The pitchforks would come out and we’d be hunted like animals.

  “Then we have to stop them,” I said.

  “We’re already trying to do that. The question is how do we stop them?” Cassidy said.

  “First things first,” Sebastian started. “We need to know where the Gate of Horns and Ivory is. If we unlink Mackenzie, we take away the leverage they have. The Fae know we’d protect Mackenzie no matter what, which gives them confidence that their realm will remain open. But once we shut down their entry, we cut their army at the knees and they’ll be forced to fight with whatever Fae is already here. Once she's unlinked they've lost whatever upper hand they thought they had.”

  “We have to be strategic,” I leaned forward. “We have to attack when the link is broken. It has to be instantaneous. If we wait, we allow them to regroup; if we don’t, we stand a better chance. They won't see it coming, we have to surprise them. They’re not aware that we know the location of their headquarters—we know their ultimate game plan. We catch them with their pants down and we’ve already won half the battle.”

  “What about Briggs? The King?” Cassidy asked.

  “We’ll bring them in the loop, just not yet. We have to wait until I'm unlinked and we have to wait until the last minute.”

  Michaels tapped his foot erratically on my wooden floor and I put a hand on his leg. “We can't do this on our own,” I started. “I saw that hospital. It’s filled with Fae and I'm sure more are coming through the lake as we speak, and they're not just coming into Central Park, but Loch Lomond as well. We have to prepare. We have to reach out to everyone just like we did during the revolution. We have to reach out to all our connections, all of our friends, even those that we don't like—who we thought we’d never work with—those are the ones that we have to reach out to because they're in danger too. The Fae threaten all of us.”

  Jackson still wanted to kill me. I didn’t blame him. I stepped outside for some fresh air and he followed me out.

  I stood outside my apartment and he was up on the steps, watching me.

  “Are you going to stand there all night or are you going to say something?”

  Multiple sirens blared through the streets as I stared up at the night sky, not a single star in sight.

  “I'm only here because this affects me too, but that's it. Don't think for one second that we're friends because we’re not,” he growled.

  I snorted. “I've heard that a lot recently. I've lost a lot of friends, but I still consider you one of mine and that's all that matters.”

  “Bullshit,” he spat. “You screwed me over. You fucked up everything!”

  “I know.”

  “No, you don't! You don't know anything,” he yelled. “From the beginning, I never liked you, but I admired you. You stood for something and you didn't back down. When you left for Los Angeles I’d been working with Lucian the whole time to keep you safe. I did that for you!” he took a breath. “Maybe because you rescued me from Caleb, I don't know, and this was how you repaid me! Ho
w could you do that to her? How could you turn her knowing how we feel about vampires? I love her for fucks sake!”

  My eyes glossed over and I had to swallow a few times before facing him. “I love her too, Jackson.”

  “No, you don't because if you did, you wouldn't have done that to her.”

  “So, what? You would have preferred I let her die? She's human Jackson! What was I supposed to do? You might love her, but she's everything to me,” I slammed my palm to my chest. “I know it doesn't make sense but Amy is what keeps me tied to my humanity.”

  “She isn't even human anymore. How can you be tied to someone like that?” he pointed a finger to my upstairs apartment.

  “Human or not, she reminds me of how things had been before all of this,” I waved my hand around us. “It doesn't matter anymore because I'm going to fix her. You don't have to worry much longer, just give me some time.”

  “What are you talking about?” he shook his head. “She's a vampire, she can't be fixed.”

  “I've been working on it all year—on a cure.”

  He snorted and came down the stoop of my apartment. He stuffed his hands in his pocket and looked at me like I was bullshitting him. “You're not a witch, Mackenzie. You might be a wolf and an Oracle, but you're not a witch.”

  “I’m not a witch, Jackson, but I've been working with many and I finally found a warlock who could help me. He's made a cure. I have everything minus one ingredient, but it has to wait. I can't do it right now.”

  Jacksons eyes grew. “Why not? If you have the cure give it to her!”

  I scoffed. “Give it to her now as we’re at the brink of war, where she could be human and die again? Did we not learn our lesson in Scotland?”

  He ran a hand through his chestnut hair, pondering that thought. He should know better than to play history all over again. I wasn't willing to risk it. Was it selfish? Yes, but whether she was human or not, no matter what I told her, she would still be a part of the fight. She wouldn't back down just like she didn’t in Scotland. I tried to send her home many times and she refused. Maybe Sebastian was right, she's ingrained in this world regardless of whether she's vampire or human. If I gave her the cure now she would just be breakable again and putting her life on the line without our protection—but then again being a vampire wasn’t always safe either.