“Sir, I think that you aren’t thinking—”
“Are you questioning my ability to lead, Yuri?
“No, sir. I only worry that the choice you are about to make will have repercussions that we will never overcome.”
“Yuri, I have no time for your fears and worries. You believe you have found me the Arc, yes?”
“Yes but—”
“Then your job is done.” Aleixandre picks up this phone and dialed. “You may leave now, Yuri.”
Yuri stands and heads for the door. He turns. “Sir—”
But Aleixandre is already on the phone speaking, and it seems that Yuri’s warning has fallen on deaf ears.
“Send me Rio and Angel,” Aleixandre says as his gaze says that he is finished with Yuri.
“Has it really come to this, Aleixandre, that you would need to call on them?” Yuri asks, his voice dripping with disgust.
Aleixandre hangs up the phone and closes his eyes, looking as if his patience with the man is wearing thin, but he lets him continue.
“If this is the path that we are to go down, calling in mercenaries into the process to retrieve and Arc, then what were we truly created for?” The question isn't one to be answered, and Yuri leaves Aleixandre, shutting the door behind him.
What would he need mercenaries for?
Aleixandre ignores Yuri’s comment and makes another phone call. “Jace, I’m sending you an address where your target is. I want you there within the next few hours and then await my call.”
The phone call ends, just as two men—well, giants—step into Aleixandre’s office. The tanned skinned man with the blackest hair I’ve ever seen is at least six foot six, and his arms and hands have seen better days. Burn scars ravage half his face, leaving enough to show that it probably was handsome at one point, though the harsh lines of hate and anger make that hard to see.
Are these men what the Council of Immortals is created of? Jace’s face has a few scars, as well, but nothing like the man in front of me.
The second man is smaller than Scarface, but that doesn’t make him small by any measure of the word. He, too, is a giant—and not just compared to me, but compared to Aleixandre’s guards.
The blond man looks vaguely familiar. His silver hair falls in thick sheets past his shoulders, down his back. His eyes are so dark, they seem black, and his lips seem to be permanently chiseled into a sneer. I can’t imagine what these men do for the Council. Jace, though scarred and sometimes mean, looks nothing like these two menacing men.
Aleixandre addresses them. “I guess you could say that I now see reason or that I am as mad as I have always thought the two of you to be.”
Rio and Angel glances at each other and then turns back to Aleixandre.
“Are you saying that you are ready to create a more immortals?” Scarface asks, a smile in his face.
Aleixandre frowns. “What? No, at least not right now. I need you two for other reasons. The last time we spoke, you told me that there were things that you would be willing to do, things that you thought I was too afraid to do. Angel, I still hold the—”
“Save it, Aleixandre. What is it you need of us now?” Angel asks, the motion bringing odd waves in his damaged skin.
“Death.”
“What?” Angel barks. “You want death?” He laughs and sits back in his chair. “And what will you give us in return?”
“Maybe we should ask who it is he wants killed first, before we ask about the task’s reward?” Rio asks, speaking for the first time since he arrived in the room.
Rio and Angel both look to Aleixandre.
“Leave us,” Aleixandre says. The two guards behind him aren’t as confused as Rio and Angel. They promptly leave. “You too,” he adds, and the man in the shadows inclines his head and heads for the door.
“Budu blízkou, pokud mě budeš potřebovat, pane,” the man from the shadows whispered as he left the room. Aleixandre doesn’t respond, but he smiles and nods after the man leaves.
“Why do you keep that beast hidden in the shadows? He should be out there, killing Chorý.” Rio still stares at the door the man exited through.
“Never mind him. This is a sensitive job, and there will only be a few people who know of its occurrence, am I understood?”
“Sure, we understand, but Angel and I will take all of the risk, and we will be paid well for it.” Rio winks at Aleixandre’s smirk.
“I am going to ask more of you this time, men,” He sits back and eyes both of the men’s reaction to his words. Neither man is affected as they sit waiting for more information. “This is not just the regular termination contract, this one is different the targets are humans that aren’t against the Council of Immortals or allied with Chorý.” Still neither man acted as if this would stop them from completing the task that Aleixandre would ask of them. “Knowing that, what is your price?”
“It is what we have always wanted. Immortality,” Rio states calmly. He sits back in his chair and crosses his arms. “And Aleixandre, that is the only thing that we will accept as payment.”
“Who is it that must die for you to retrieve your precious Arc?” Angel asks, interjecting himself into the conversation again.
“I accept, now here is the address. It must be made to look like an accident, and you must make sure that the girl is not in the car at the time, or this is all for nothing.” Aleixandre writes on a sheet of paper and hands it to Rio, who takes it, reads it over, and then hands it back to him. “Do you not need to take it with you?”
Rio shrugs. “No, it’s just numbers and a few words.” He points to his head. “Nothing I can’t remember.”
“Well, you think I could look at it, or someone could tell me who it is we are supposed to be offing?” Angel asks, and Aleixandre hands him the paper. “Who are these people?”
“Why are you so concerned? Do this, and you get what you want,” Aleixandre answers.
I move closer to the paper that Angel has placed back on the desk.
“Fine. As long as we have your word that we will have immortality once we give you what you want, we will be on our way.” Rio stands to leave.
I quickly move around him—remembering only afterward that there’s no way to bump someone in a memory—and glance at the paper moments before Aleixandre crumples it up.
Even though I don’t have a chance to see it all, I see enough. Memorizing my address had gotten me a trip to the ice cream shop when I was four. When I fell down on the driveway and sprained my ankle and wrist, I’d lain on the spray-painted numbers of my address until my father had come picked me up.
He cradled me in his arms until my mother pulled the car around. He’d even held me in the back seat as we sped toward the hospital. His scent had been soothing.
In that moment, I realize that I will never smell him again, never see his eyes glisten as he holds me, proclaiming that everything will be okay. Never see the smile my mother gave me as we left the hospital as she explained how the two of us would stay up late and eat popcorn until I was ready to return to school.
Honestly, what hurt the most was realizing that I was the cause of my parent’s death. My powers, powers I didn’t even know how to use well, were the reason why they were gone.
No. I was the reason they were gone.
Chapter 18
Alex
After Mia and I learned to use the alarm system the next day, Jace and Kale called me to tell me of the plans to find Ella. An Immortal friend of Kale’s was flying in. With the help of some tech guy, Kale and Jace had identified the island where Laurent was hiding, and we were all heading out as soon as the Deacon guy arrived, which was supposed to be later that evening.
I wasn’t afraid. I was terrified. Mia was to stay in Kale’s house until we contacted her. I couldn’t believe that her parents were still out of town at a time like this. I didn’t want her alone, and I was glad that she was staying at Kale’s until we returned, because I didn’t want to have to also worry about h
er while we were on our “mission,” as Mia called it.
We were headed into a situation where I was sure that we were outnumbered, and I wasn’t sure what to expect from it. Was I supposed to go home and kiss my family goodbye, just in case? Leave a note for my father to find later, explaining all the lies that I had told him? Sheriff Making never had called in the FBI for help, and there was still an open investigation into Ella’s disappearance.
The whole town was upset. Shops and mills were closing early to make sure that everyone was home and safe before dark, and the deputies were out at sunset, patrolling the edge of the woods as best they could. Little did they know that there was no reason to be there.
Laurent had gotten what he wanted and was long gone, and Kale and Jace had conducted a plan that could result in bringing that darkness back to Cedar. If Laurent was left alive after we got Ella back, he would return, and there would be hell to pay.
“What are you thinking about?” Mia asked me just before she took a sip of her hot chocolate. The fire blazed, and though I had taken everything off but the few items of clothing that kept me decent, I was still sweating bullets.
“I’m thinking about Ella and how this will all work out if—when we bring her home.”
Mia digested my words carefully before she spoke. “Are you scared?”
“No.” The last thing I needed was Mia thinking that I couldn’t handle the “mission” or that she needed to worry about me. I was a grown man, and I didn’t need her to stress.
“Hey,” Mia placed her hand on my arm, hot from the cup of hot chocolate, and it sent a sizzle up my spine. Her blue gaze probed mine, warm and understanding, though fear lay behind it—fear I knew she saw in me, too.
If things had been different, where would she and I have been right now?
“It’s fine if you are. This goes past the realm of what we ever expected was out there. People always say that there are things that go bump in the night, and teenagers ignore that. We think that nothing can harm us. If it does, then oh, well—at least we have a cool story to tell about how we broke this bone or got those stitches. Fear isn’t something we are used to feeling, unless it’s the fear of getting chewed out or grounded by our parents.”
I laughed at Mia. She was dead on. How many times had I done something that could have gotten me hurt or killed? All the times I did crazy eights in the iced-over parking lot minus a seatbelt, rode on top of the hood of a friend’s car going sixty miles per hour down an icy road—or even the time me and my friends hiked through the forest in the middle of the winter, looking for Bigfoot because Tim Routy said he’d seen him. We made it back that night with a mild case of hypothermia; it could have been a lot worse.
“But this is different, right?” Mia persisted. “You’re thinking that this time, you know the danger, and your fear is—”
“I said I’m not scared. Jeez, Mia.” I pulled my arm away from her as the lie spilled from my lips. Maybe it was my pride, or my concern that it would cause Jace and Kale to exclude me, but the urge to not admit my fear weighed heavily on my chest.
“Okay, well, how about this? My dad’s brother has been on tour to Iraq, like, four times now. He told me that he read a quote somewhere about fear and bravery. Something about fear and courage and mastery. Err…”
While Mia fumbled with her thoughts, I fumbled with a thought of my own. What were we to do if Ella didn’t make it home?
“‘Bravery is not the absence of fear, but the mastery of it,’ John Berridge.” Jace entered the room and sat directly across from Mia and me. I looked at him, confused, and he elaborated. “I believe that is the quote Mia was looking for.”
I looked to Mia and quirked a brow.
“I guess. I really can’t remember the exact quote, but that one works just fine.” She shared a warm smile with Jace who inclined his head and returned the smile.
“‘Fear is met and destroyed with courage,’ James F. Bell,” Kale said, adding his two cents to the mix. I wracked my brain for something to contribute, but I couldn’t come up with anything.
“Yup, another good one.” Mia rubbed my arm.
I bristled. I didn’t need coddling.
Mia rolled her eyes and moved her hand.
“Why are we talking about fear?” Kale looked directly at me for an answer, expression impassive. I could see something more than his concern for Ella brimming below the surface, something dark and angry. Kale often kept his distance from the group, but it was in his eyes when he looked at Mia or me. Whatever it was, it had me on edge, Jace obviously noticed it, too.
Jace and Kale both eyed me suspiciously.
“‘Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear,’ Mark Twain,” I whispered.
I was afraid. I was the only human going to face a bunch of immortals, but nothing would stop me. I loved Ella, and I had known her all of my life. I had to fight for her. I didn’t want to admit aloud that my heart was beating a mile a minute, that my hands were clammy, and that I was doing the best I could to regulate my breathing.
From their gazes, Kale and Jace knew anyway.
“Like I said, ‘Fear is met and destroyed with courage,’ James F. Bell.” Kale held his chin up and stared at me, his eyes black, and I got his message loud and clear. Of course he expected me to be afraid, but the fact that I was holding to my guns about being a part of this rescue mission meant my fear didn’t own me, and I was ready for whatever was to come.
“So, explain to me what we are doing after Deacon arrives?” I asked Kale.
“He isn’t far from here, so I expect him to arrive in the next hour or so. Jace has informed me that we will have help from the Council.” Kale grimaced.
“I must add that this is unsanctioned help. I will not be commanding the Council members in any way, other than the fact that I have made them agree not to harm Kale. Since he is the Council’s sworn enemy, I had to bargain with them in order to make this happen.”
“Bargain?” Mia sat up as she spoke. “What do you mean, bargain?”
“Yes, tell her what you promised, Jace,” Kale interjected.
“I promised that I would convince Ella to leave with them,” Jace said coolly, as if that had been his plan all along.
“What did you just say?” I asked through clenched teeth. Mia looked worried, and Kale looked pissed, but there had to be more. If Jace’s true plan was to send Ella off with the Council, then Kale would have decapitated Jace the first time he told him his ridiculous plan.
“There are things that I know about the Council—things that Laurent knows about the Council—and he has no doubt told or showed Ella these things,” Jace explained.
“What things?” I asked.
“I am on a sabbatical of sorts from the Council at the moment. That does not in any way mean will I divulge their secrets to any of you, are we clear on that?” Jace asked, his tone hard.
“How are we supposed to trust you, Jace, if you don’t tell us the truth and all of it?” Mia asked.
“You will trust me because you have no other choice. If I was going to betray you I would have already done it,” Jace explained.
“Whatever,” Mia mumbled.
“This information that Ella has been given will guarantee that she will not leave with the Council. I have told Kale this, and he agrees with me that she will stay.”
I looked at Kale, and he nodded.
“So Kale knows the reason why she will stay?” Mia asked.
“No, but he agrees that Ella will stay because he believes the Council is evil and have done more than their fair share of bad deeds. Some being the reason Ella won’t go.”
“Fine. What’s the plan, then?” I didn’t care the reason. I just wanted to know what they planned to do.
“I know you didn’t start this party without me,” boomed a deep voice from behind us. Before I could react, Kale was out of his chair and in the arms of a large black man who was patting him on the back.
“For
a second there, it looked like I was interrupting a wake.” Deacon gave a thunderous laugh. Maybe he didn’t know how serious things had gotten, though that didn’t seem to make sense; Kale had to have told him.
“Deek, this is Jace, Mia, and Alex,” Kale introduced us all.
“Nice to meet you all, and I wish it was under better circumstances, but life is life. Now, first things first. I’ve got some gear in the car. Kale, you want to help me with that?” Deacon looked from everyone in the room to Kale. A silent conversation played out between the two of them before Kale finally left the living room with Deacon.
“What was that about?” Mia asked.
“He is probably going to chastise Kale for involving humans.” Jace leaned back into the chair and closed his eyes. “If I had entered this situation the same way our dear friend Deacon has, then I would as well voice my opinion of the two of you and your involvement.”
Chapter 19
Kale
We headed outside to the side driveway, where Deacon had parked his Navigator. Before working the keyless entry, he stopped and turned to me, obviously concerned about something. I’d worked with Deacon on a few undercover missions in the past, and he never held his tongue when concerned about a plan. That was one of the things I admired about him—that and his courage under fire.
I was asking a lot from him tonight, time away from a life he had created with the one person that pulled him out of the personal hell he’d created from himself long ago, some people took being Chorý different than others. Deacon had been a cop before the change, and though he’d done a lot of good in his life, becoming Chorý and living off blood was more than he could handle. We’d both been in the depths of Chorý hell. My release had been the search for Ella, and at the time, his was the undercover work we’d been doing with the police in Ohoula, California.
It hadn’t been enough, though. We were small fish in a big pond of corruption. We only continued because the small differences we’d made were more than most could accomplish, and our Chorý status was the only reason working against Tony and his crew was possible.
Awakened Page 15
