“I’m not leaving until she gets here,” he murmured.
“You will leave when I say so,” Charlotte corrected. “The sentries who remain will take her into custody when she arrives.”
“She is my wife!”
“That may be true, but I need you with me. We are hunting the Guardians and your knowledge will come in handy. Besides,” she smiled cruelly, “I doubt that Avery will be happy to see you.”
This was a low blow. Tristan had done everything he could to coerce Avery into telling him where she had hidden her crystal. He had begged and pleaded but Avery had laughed in his face. Then he had discovered that she had left a note for Quinn, and his determination had turned to desperation. He had even stood by and watched while Charlotte tortured her, in the frantic hope that she would submit, but she had not. He had underestimated her strength, believing her to be the softer of the two sisters, but Avery had proved she was more like Quinn than he had ever thought. She had smiled in the face of intolerable cruelty, until she had blacked out from the pain, only to wake up and go through it all again. Tristan had endured it all, watching her suffer and hating himself for it, but knowing that one day she would forget and their love would prevail. When it became evident that Avery would never reveal the location of her crystal, Charlotte had mentioned the children and using them as a means to make Avery talk, and Tristan had realised that something had to be done. He had planted false information inside the Guardianship, sowing seeds of doubt and fear, knowing they would bring Quinn in and remove the children to a place of safety where Charlotte could not reach them. When Quinn had discovered Avery’s hiding place, he had turned his attention to seducing her.
Everything Tristan had done had been for his family. He loved Avery more than life itself, but she had not agreed to his plan, and so he had had to remove her from the equation until it was all over. He wanted a normal life; to be with his children and his wife and he didn’t care how many Guardians or wards had to die in the process. All that mattered was his family.
Chapter 23
Quinn sat amidst the chaos waging around her, completely detached. The Guardians were in a state of shock, trying to make sense of it all, but Quinn could feel nothing. She had insulated herself in a cocoon of single-minded purpose, as she watched Piper, working on a laptop a few feet away.
“It’s not possible.” Quinn heard her father’s voice rise above the others. She couldn’t blame him for his reaction upon hearing her sister’s voice. It was impossible because Avery had been killed over two years ago. Avery had died, and yet, it was her voice which had left a voice message on Quinn’s cell phone; the same phone which Quinn had kept for year; that at one time only Avery had known about. Quinn had tried calling the number back but there had been no answer. Piper was working furiously trying to trace the number back to its source.
“Quinn, it’s a trap!” Isaiah tried once more to reason with her but his words fell on deaf ears. “Your sister is gone, you know that! The vampires are trying to lure you out. We know they have your number, thanks to Tristan.” Isaiah might be the Guardian she trusted and admired the most, but she could not bring herself to consider his warning. Hitting the speaker on her phone she replayed the message, the desperation in Avery’s voice impossible to miss.
“It’s Avery’s voice,” she insisted. “And this number was known only to the two of us until just recently. It hasn’t changed; she would know it.” The Guardians changed their phones every year, for security reasons, but Quinn had always kept this number so that she and Avery could communicate privately. When she had destroyed her Guardian phone, she had started using it instead, but Piper had ensured it was as untraceable as her previous one.
“We need to burn our phones,” Daniel interrupted, and Quinn snatched hers away as he reached for it.
“Our phones aren’t traceable,” she retorted.
“We can’t take any chances.”
“My sister called this number,” Quinn growled. “If you think for one second that I’ll destroy this phone, you’re crazy.”
“Your sister is dead,” Daniel’s voice was harsh, “she didn’t call you. This is a diabolical scheme to lure us out and you’re falling for it. Now give me your phone.” He leaned toward her and Quinn got to her feet, just as Braddon came to stand beside her.
“You’re not touching that phone, Daniel.” Her father’s words stunned her. Braddon had always been an exemplary Guardian, following the rules to the last letter and always respecting the decision of the group. Now, however, his protective stance and his resolute expression made it clear that he would not back down.
“I’ve got it!” Piper’s cry from across the room broke the mounting tension and Quinn rushed over to her, peering over her shoulder to look at the screen. “The call came from a phone in Glenashley; I have the address.” Hastily she scrawled it on a piece of paper while Quinn thought fast. Glenashley was not too far from where they were. If she left now and drove through the night she could make it there by sundown tomorrow.
“I’m going,” she announced, snatching the paper as Piper raised it over her head.
“I’m coming with you,” Braddon agreed, just as the other Guardians started to protest. In the conflict that followed, nobody noticed Lenora pull her own phone from her pocket and raise it to her ear.
The Guardians joined forces against Quinn, trying to make her see reason.
“Avery’s replacement has never come forward,” she replied evenly, using logic to her advantage. “We’ve always believed it was because something had changed, or that something had gone wrong with the charm; but now we know the truth. A new Guardian never came forward because Avery didn’t die that day.”
“Quinn, her body...” Isaiah began gently, but Quinn cut him short.
“It’s not her body! Avery left me the note – the one that led me to her crystal. Why would she do that?” she asked them at large. “I always thought it was strange that she would leave a clue to her crystal’s whereabouts. It was almost as if she knew a replacement wouldn’t be coming forward to find it. I think she knew she was in trouble.”
Nobody said a word after that, but both Daniel and Isaiah followed her to her room as she packed a small bag, shoving Lenora’s donated clothes into it with barely a thought.
“Quinn, you are putting us all in danger,” Daniel tried once more to get through to her.
“I’ll dump the phone the second I find her,” Quinn replied, throwing a handful of stakes on top of the jumble of clothing inside the bag and zipping it up. “Until then, if they do trace it, at least it won’t be anywhere near here.”
“Don’t do this,” Isaiah pleaded, his approach far more gentle than Daniel’s. “Your sister is gone. Her body lies in the Cliffdale cemetery.” It had only been a few weeks since Isaiah had exhumed Avery’s body and discovered that the cause of her death had been wolf bites, not those of a vampire as they had all believed.
“I know Avery’s voice,” Quinn met his gaze levelly. “And if there is even the slightest chance that my sister is still alive, do you really think I could let it go? Would you, Isaiah, if it was someone you loved? Or you Daniel?”
“No one person is worth the lives of the wards,” Daniel replied resolutely.
“What if it was Emily?” Quinn persisted, and she watched as the blood drained from his face. Emily had been the love of Daniel’s life.
“Is there anything you wouldn’t have done for her?” Quinn taunted. She had only just learned that Daniel had been the one who had killed Charlotte when she was still human. To be fair, Drake had explained that it hadn’t been intentional, but Quinn didn’t care. Daniel’s rage at Emily’s death had blinded him, and he had done things that were inconceivable. There was no doubt in her mind that, if their roles were reversed, Daniel would be doing exactly the same thing as she was now. “If it was Emily, you would go,” she finished lamely, not wanting him to know how much she knew about the night Charlotte had been killed.
&nbs
p; They stared at her, neither prepared to argue when they knew she was right. Daniel also sensed that Quinn knew more than she was letting on, but he kept his thoughts to himself.
“You burn the phone the second you realise you’re wrong,” he instructed.
“I’ll burn the phone the second I find her,” Quinn corrected, pushing past him and heading for the door.
Downstairs she found bedlam. Drake stood in the hall, with Lenora and all of her vampire staff before him, facing the Guardians. Quinn met Drake’s eyes and she hastened down the stairs, forcing her way through the Guardians to stand between the two clearly separate groups. Despite everyone, except Daniel and the other Hunters, having agreed to hearing Drake out, his sudden and unexpected arrival had the Guardians on high alert, and Quinn could sense that one wrong move by either party would result in a full-scale attack.
“Enough!” Isaiah roared, coming to stand beside Quinn. “What is going on?”
“What is he doing here?” Daniel had also found his way to her side, and he eyed Drake with ill-concealed loathing.
“Lenora called me,” Drake explained, ignoring Daniel completely and speaking directly to Quinn. “Glenashley is where I first met Charlotte; her family home is there.” His eyes held hers as his meaning became clear. Charlotte had Avery. Quinn felt her loathing for Charlotte rise like thunder in her chest. She had witnessed Charlotte’s capacity for cruelty firsthand, and the thought of her sister in that monster’s clutches made her faint with fear. “You’ll need me,” Drake continued quietly.
“Okay,” Quinn relented quickly. If Drake knew where Charlotte lived she would get there that much quicker. Searching for her father’s face she found him at the edge of the group of Guardians. “Let’s go,” she told him.
“Wait a minute!” Daniel stopped her by pressing a hand to her shoulder and Drake stepped forward menacingly at the physical gesture. “We agreed to a meeting with this vampire,” Daniel reminded Quinn, “Nothing more. He cannot go with you until we have all decided that he is trustworthy.” A murmur of assent ran through the Guardian ranks.
“There’s no time for that, now,” Quinn insisted, shrugging his hand off her, but before she could take another step he seized her wrist.
“Let her go,” Drake growled ominously. “I will explain myself to you when we return, but if you think that you will keep me from protecting her, then you would do well to draw your stake.”
Nobody moved, as the two men faced each other, their mutual enmity crackling between them like emotional electricity. Eventually, Isaiah placed a hand on Daniel’s shoulder, jolting him back into the present.
“Let them go,” Isaiah’s voice was calm and Daniel’s shoulders relaxed as he forced his emotions under control. Quinn didn’t hesitate. Pushing past the others, she ran through the open front door, with Drake and her father right behind her.
Chapter 24
Aleksei stood alone in the Cathedral training room, his eyes roaming freely over the assortment of weaponry the Guardians had been collecting for centuries. Weapons made to destroy him and his people. He was so close, finally, to fulfilling the promise he had made to Eldon all those years ago, but still, his frustration was mounting. Wards had escaped, and now they would have to be hunted down. Tristan’s warning that if mankind learned of their existence they might intervene also discomfited Aleksei. He feared no man, but they had weapons that could be used against him. The dragons still needed to be dealt with, but they were scattering, making it harder to eliminate them all. Deep in thought, Aleksei had retreated to the training room to be alone.
When Sloane interrupted him, it did nothing to improve his foul temper.
“What is it?” he snapped, as the councilman bowed low in the doorway.
“I am sorry to disturb you, my Lord, but there is something you need to see.” Knowing that Sloane would not dare call for him unless it was important, Aleksei followed him back to the main hall.
To his surprise, a man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties sat on one of the council chairs, his wrists and ankles bound. He glared hatefully at all of them, but Aleksei noticed with a smug satisfaction, there was also fear in his brown eyes.
“He arrived a few minutes ago,” Sloane explained. “To replace one of the Guardians who was killed in the fighting.”
“His crystal?” Aleksei asked immediately, as Charlotte and Tristan stepped into the Cathedral.
The young man watched in dismay as Sloane handed Aleksei a thin jagged amethyst fragment.
“What is your name?” Aleksei demanded. When the stranger said nothing, he inclined his head at Tristan, who stepped forward, pressing his stake brutally into the young man’s cheek.
“Your name,” Tristan hissed. The young Guardian’s eyes widened as they fell on Tristan’s white tattoo.
“Oliver,” he conceded, in obvious confusion.
“As you can see, Oliver,” Aleksei continued pleasantly, as Tristan lowered the stake, “you have arrived a little too late for the party. Your friends have fled and I now control your City... and your education,” he added ominously.
Oliver ignored him, his eyes never leaving Tristan’s face. Despite his confusion, he knew without knowing how, that he felt an unwavering loyalty to this man, although it was apparent that the feeling was not mutual.
“Why are you doing this?” Oliver stammered.
“I have my reasons,” Tristan replied coldly. “What are we going to do with him?” he added, turning to Aleksei.
“Well, we want him alive, unfortunately. So long as we have him, unharmed, no replacement will come forward. And so, the Guardians are down to nine,” he mused, delighting in the fact.
Neither Charlotte nor Tristan corrected him. He and Oliver were both here, and it had long been known throughout the vampire community that a Guardian had fallen and never been replaced, although only the two of them, and a handful of Charlotte’s loyal servants knew the real reason for this; that Avery was not dead. Neither Tristan nor Charlotte felt much like enlightening Aleksei, or telling him that there was a possibility that Avery might find her way back to the other Guardians.
“Take him away,” Sloane ordered the hovering vampires, sensing Aleksei was finished with Oliver for now. Far from grateful, Aleksei rounded on him.
“You are still here, Sloane? Didn’t I give you a job to do?”
“I was just leaving, my Lord,” Sloane bit out through clenched teeth. His eyes found Charlotte’s and she gave him a knowing look, which he couldn’t return, mindful of Aleksei’s scrutiny.
After Sloane had gone and Aleksei had returned to the weapons room, Tristan rounded on Charlotte.
“What exactly is your plan if Avery does return?” he asked. “Don’t you think Aleksei will question her and figure out you have held her captive for over two years?” Charlotte had been thinking the same thing and had privately concluded that the simplest solution was to kill Avery before she breathed a word to anybody, but instead, she offered another plan.
“I’ll have my men surround the valley,” she murmured. “They’ll find her before anyone else and make sure that nobody knows about it. I’ll have her taken somewhere else, not back to the manor.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Tristan took a certain amount of pleasure in the fact that for once, Charlotte was not in control, and taking just as big a risk as he had. “Because if he does find out; you’re dead.”
“If I were you, I’d be more concerned about yourself and your precious wife,” she retorted, but Tristan only smiled.
“Ah, but you forget, Charlotte... Aleksei wants the Guardians alive.”
In a foul temper, Charlotte made her way to the small home that was housing their prisoners. It was almost a mirror-image of Tristan’s quarters and must have belonged to a Guardian.
As she entered the living-room, the three human prisoners stiffened although the Guardian, Oliver, eyed her far less fearfully than the gypsies.
“Get out,” Charlotte snappe
d at the vampire watching over them, and he hastened outside. Ignoring Oliver and Zebulon, Charlotte untied the woman sitting between them.
“Cara, my dear,” she purred. “It’s time for you to prove yourself.” As she straightened up, she caught the enraged eyes of Cara’s husband.
“Is there something you want to say, Zebulon?” she asked, her voice losing some of its sweetness. Leaning closer, the scent of human blood assailed her, and Charlotte realised she hadn’t fed since yesterday. Without a second’s thought, she nuzzled his neck, her fangs extended.
“No!” Cara yelled, seizing Charlotte’s shoulders. Straightening up, Charlotte rounded on her. “My, my, but we are protective,” she taunted. “Don’t worry yourself, pet, I only wanted a taste.”
“Don’t you lay your filthy hands on him,” Cara warned, bravely.
“I’m hungry,” Charlotte pointed out wryly. “Unless you would like to oblige?” she raised a suggestive eyebrow and Cara shuddered, her skin crawling. She had always known that vampires existed, but she had never believed she would be standing before one. None of the stories did justice to their evil. Seeing Charlotte’s gaze flicker hungrily back to Zebulon, Cara braced herself and slowly tilted her head, exposing her neck.
Charlotte was surprised and impressed by the girl’s courage, but she would not allow her her dignity. Stepping forward, she smiled lasciviously and lifted her finger, pulling down Cara’s top and exposing her naked breast. Zebulon yelled in anger, struggling against the ropes that bound him, as Charlotte lowered her head, her fangs piercing the tender flesh. Suckling gently, Charlotte felt a thrill come over her as Cara’s tears of shame splashed onto her face.
When she had drunk her fill, she straightened up, licking the last vestige of blood from her lips.
“Shall we go?” she asked pleasantly, and Cara covered herself up, casting one last mournful look at her husband before gathering what little dignity she had left and following Charlotte through the doorway.
Guardians of Summerfeld: Full Series: Books 1-4 Page 69
