Steph, who was still standing silently on my other side, stepped in. ‘Umm, guys, I hate to break up the testosterone-fuelled stand-off, but people are starting to stare.’ She looked at Lincoln. ‘And by the way, nice to see you too, Lincoln.’ She gave him a tight-lipped smile.
‘Hi, Steph. Sorry,’ Lincoln said, looking ashamed. So he should be. Then again, he hadn’t been the only one puffing out his chest.
‘Yeah, yeah,’ Steph continued. ‘Clearly, I have no idea what is actually going on here.’ She shot me an accusing look. I had a lot of explaining ahead of me. ‘Clearly, I’m out of the loop, but here’s the thing. There are two of you and only one of Violet and, bless her, she just wasn’t built to handle two guys at once.’
It was me who shot her a look this time. She just smiled and directed her attention to Phoenix. ‘Why don’t you and I go and have a drink at the bar? Violet can come and find us when she’s ready.’
At that moment, I loved Steph beyond words. Phoenix grudgingly followed her, but not before entertaining himself. He planted a slow kiss on my cheek followed by a departing smile at Lincoln. It was annoying, given that Phoenix had been the one bugging me to see Lincoln for the last couple of weeks.
We walked in silence out to the back terrace. Fresh air seemed like a good idea and increasing the distance between Lincoln and Phoenix an even better one.
‘You look beautiful with your hair out,’ he said, without looking at me. His voice touched that part of me that only his could and I wanted to surrender, to dive into it, but I reminded myself that that time had passed.
‘You’ve seen it out a million times.’ I blew him off, tucking my hair behind my ear.
‘And a million times I’ve wanted to tell you how beautiful it looks.’ He turned and looked straight into my eyes and then deliberately dropped his gaze to the neckline of my dress. It was subtle compared to the way Phoenix forced his emotions on me, but it hit me like a wrecking ball anyway. I wanted so much to reach for him. He had never allowed himself to look at me like that before.
‘Don’t,’ I said instead.
‘OK,’ he said, a little defensively. ‘If you just want to get back to your boyfriend,’ he swung his arm towards the doors, ‘don’t let me stop you.’
‘He’s not…you have no right… Damn you!’ I couldn’t even put a sentence together around him.
Lincoln put his hands in his pockets and looked down. While he wasn’t watching I took a few deep breaths to steady myself.
‘Sorry,’ he muttered. ‘But I’ve been going crazy not seeing you, not knowing how you are. I’ve tried to respect your space, but then you turn up here with him.’
‘I’m sorry it’s been so hard for you,’ I replied sarcastically. ‘What are you doing here anyway?’
‘The fund invited me. I’m one of their main contributors.’
‘Just another thing I didn’t know,’ I said under my breath.
‘It was a trust fund, set up when Mum died. It’s not something I think about often. I wasn’t keeping it from you.’
He had never talked about his parents much. All I knew was that his dad died in a car crash a week after he was born and his mum died of cancer when he was seventeen. Apparently she’d been some kind of entrepreneur, and since Lincoln was an only child, I’d gathered he inherited a fair bit of money – enough to buy the warehouse, at least. The spare room in his place was filled to the ceiling with boxes of his mother’s old company documents. He never went in there, always saying he was going to clear it out and turn it into a gym, although I knew he never would.
His tone dropped. ‘You shouldn’t trust him.’
‘I shouldn’t have trusted you,’ I said, matching his tone.
He grimaced with the pain of my words and it looked genuine, but I wasn’t convinced.
‘Have you decided what you want to do?’ he said, turning away from me, bracing his hands on the railing. ‘About becoming a Grigori?’
‘No. To be honest there’s still a lot I’m figuring out about the whole thing.’
‘Will you let me help you?’ he almost begged.
The truth was, seeing what had happened to Claudia – the way that exile had forced her to kneel before him and ask for her death – had done something to me. Watching her will torn from her impenitently. I didn’t know any more if I really could turn away from my fate, knowing I could possibly prevent that from happening to another innocent person one day.
I also knew there was a part of me that was still so incredibly hungry to be around Lincoln, I couldn’t resist his offer. I put my hands on the railings, and we both looked out into the night, standing shoulder to shoulder.
‘OK,’ I conceded. ‘But that doesn’t mean that we’re OK.’
‘OK,’ Lincoln said.
Great. Everything was OK.
The woman who’d been with Lincoln inside materialised at his shoulder. Her long dainty figure and wavy blonde hair were complemented by a slinky cream designer gown. I gritted my teeth. Perfect, now I was going to have the pleasure of being dumped for this beautiful creature.
She gestured for him to speak with her privately. Instead, Lincoln said, ‘Violet, this is Magda. She’s Griffin’s partner.’
Magda looked at me and smiled, but it was the smile one woman gives another when they’re sizing them up. Her eyes were cold. It made me feel a little better for disliking her instantly.
She extended her long, slim arm to me, which matched the rest of her perfect figure.
‘Grigori partner,’ she clarified. Three guesses why. ‘It’s nice to finally meet you, Violet. I’m sure we’ll get a chance to get to know each other soon, but I’m sorry, we have to go.’ She had a faint accent. It wasn’t foreign, more of a you’re-beneath-me accent.
‘Why?’ Lincoln sounded a little irritated.
Magda glanced suggestively from Lincoln to me, then back.
‘It’s fine, Magda. You can speak in front of her. There’ll be no more secrets.’
I scoffed out loud and they both looked at me. If they thought I was going to apologise, they would be waiting a while.
She hesitated, then gave a brief nod. ‘The group that followed up on our lead today were ambushed. Griffin’s expecting us.’
Lincoln’s jaw clenched. He looked at me. ‘I have to go, I’m sorry.’
Out of nowhere, I blurted, ‘I want to come.’
Now it was Lincoln’s turn to let his eyes dart from me to Magda. She gave a slight shake of her head. Yep, she and I were never going to be besties.
To my surprise, Lincoln ignored her. ‘She has a right to see this, to understand.’ He turned to me. ‘OK, but you have to promise to stay with me the whole time.’
I nodded. I wasn’t really sure what I was doing, but I had a guilty suspicion a green-eyed monster had just made my next move.
I leaned my head against the window in the back seat of Magda’s car. There’d been no time for goodbyes, so I sent Steph a text to let her and Phoenix know I’d had to leave. I was secretly glad for the excuse to escape. I hadn’t been looking forward to dealing with either of them tonight. No doubt I would pay for it tomorrow.
In the front, Magda and Lincoln talked about things I didn’t understand, people I didn’t know. A trickle of jealousy ran through me. I was being faced again with the harsh reality that there was a big part of Lincoln’s life I was clueless about. It made me angry that I had been so stupid, so naive.
A few other things were abundantly clear from watching them. He was relaxed and clearly felt at ease around her. Even though she was driving, she fidgeted constantly, adjusting her hair, playing with her necklace. She inched closer to the centre console, to him, any chance she got. It was clear how she felt. The question was, how did he feel about her?
What I gathered from their conversation – aside from my complex breakdown of their body language – was that there had been a confrontation between a number of exiled angels and Grigori. The Grigori had tracked the exiles to their
hideout but had been ambushed and outnumbered.
‘So explain to me again why they hate Grigori so much?’ I asked from the plush leather seats in the back of the Audi estate. Of course Magda had an expensive European car.
Lincoln turned to face me, leaning over the centre console. I noticed Magda didn’t move away to give him space. Instead, their arms were now touching from shoulder to elbow. I gave a mental eye roll. Please, could she be more obvious?
‘Because we’re the only thing that stands in their way,’ he said.
‘To what exactly?’
‘To power.’ He smiled wryly. ‘They want to rule over humanity. They want power and they want to strip our right to free will, turn us into slaves. They can make humans do almost anything. Some are erratic, irrational… Others are more organised. Either way, with that kind of power, it’s bad. They want to destroy us because we’re the only ones who can stop them and…we’re the only ones strong enough to fight them.’ He shook his head as he spoke. ‘Sometimes that’s the worst thing about it. Knowing that they enjoy hunting Grigori so much…that it’s become entertainment, a sport to them.’
‘But they don’t all want to cause harm,’ I said. ‘Griffin said there were exceptions.’
Lincoln knew immediately who I was referring to. He turned back in his chair, no longer looking at me. ‘Every now and then an angel that has chosen to exile just wants to live quietly among humans. We call them “silents” and we leave them be, as long as they don’t cause trouble. But most exiles are riddled with pride, desire and the need for power. There’s a reason they leave the angel realm to come here, and it rarely ends well for humans.’
Magda parked outside an old warehouse block. The area seemed familiar. I was sure we weren’t far from Lincoln’s place. A pang of something like homesickness shot through me. I wanted to slap myself.
I followed as they walked slowly into the deserted building. It looked like it was scheduled for demolition, or should be. Almost all of the dirty windows were broken. There were some old flattened cardboard boxes that looked like they had been used as makeshift beds.
At the far end of the warehouse was a small group of people, huddled around something. We walked towards them, my heels clicking on the floor. The ground was covered in a thick layer of dust, highlighted by a scattering of recent footprints and scuff marks. Steph was going to kill me when she saw the state of her Jimmy Choos.
I felt out of place, like I was a kid getting smuggled into an X-rated movie. I kept expecting someone to single me out. Magda glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. It was obvious she didn’t think I should be there.
Griffin broke away from the group and walked towards us. On seeing me, he smiled and I let go of a breath I hadn’t realised I’d been holding.
‘I was beginning to wonder if I was going to have to send out a search party,’ he said.
I smiled. He was kind of awkward in his attempts to be funny.
‘Well, here I am,’ I replied.
‘Yes.’ Griffin shot a look at Lincoln. ‘I had hoped you wouldn’t have to be thrown into the thick of it like this…’ He was still staring at Lincoln. ‘Still, I’m flattered that you dressed up.’
I zeroed in on him. ‘It was my idea to come so you can lay off with the accusing eyes.’
Griffin’s face registered his shock. I’d probably gone a bit too far, but I needed to reassert myself. The last time he’d seen me I’d been a blubbering mess. I couldn’t have him thinking I was always such a girl.
Lincoln started to laugh. I spun around to see him shaking his head.
‘What?’ I spat the word at him. Griffin was looking equally unsure.
‘Nothing, I’ve just never seen Griffin so taken by surprise. Usually he can see people coming a mile off.’
I turned back to see Griffin’s reaction, but he was starting to laugh himself.
Magda gave a huff. ‘Is this really the place for mental breakdowns, people?’ Then she stalked off.
I didn’t know whether it was her words or her attitude that made me laugh, but either way, for the briefest of moments, we were all smiling.
Lincoln was the first to remember why we were there. He frowned and turned to Griffin. ‘What happened? I thought tonight was just supposed to be about reconnoitring.’
A look of regret crossed Griffin’s face. His eyes were shadowed and weary. I could see that he felt the burden of being a leader.
‘It was. We still don’t know what happened. How they could have been… It doesn’t make sense, Linc.’ He was shaking his head in disbelief.
‘How many did we lose?’ Lincoln asked, looking towards the far end of the wharf building, where all the other Grigori were gathered.
Griffin brushed his hands across his face. ‘Three. We thought it might be the same group we’ve been tracking, but now…we’re not so sure. Tom’s dead, Linc. They were ready, organised.’
Lincoln stiffened. I wanted to comfort him, at least put a hand on his shoulder, but I held myself back.
‘Why don’t you think it was the same group?’ he growled. ‘It must have been! Why aren’t we going after them?’
‘Because our people were killed by light and dark forces. We thought at first they’d been caught in a skirmish between the two sides. But this has a dark exile’s stamp all over it. It’s possible they are forcing light exiles to do their bidding. It wouldn’t be the first time one side has taken hostages from the other.’
‘Could they be working together?’ I butted in.
‘Light and dark? No. They don’t work together,’ Griffin said.
‘Why do they take hostages?’ I asked.
‘Because when they have to use their powers for extended periods of time, it can weaken them. If they can force other exiles to do the dirty work for them, it leaves them always at full capacity,’ Lincoln explained.
Griffin rubbed his face again. ‘I know it’s hard to believe, Violet, but exiles kill without a second thought. We’re losing good people.’
‘Actually, it’s not. I saw for myself.’ I bit down on my lip. Confession time.
‘What?’ Griffin and Lincoln both exclaimed.
‘A girl I knew. She was killed by an exile.’ My eyes welled up at the memory of Claudia being dropped into my open arms. ‘He broke her neck, right in front of me.’ I looked at Lincoln. ‘Her name was Claudia. You met her on my birthday.’
He stepped towards me and gently put a hand under my elbow. ‘What happened? How did you get away?’
‘Phoenix. He…killed him.’
Lincoln and Griffin exchanged a glance. Lincoln didn’t look back at me for a few moments, but Griffin smiled apologetically and gave a nod. ‘So you see, there’s a good reason we’re supposed to be divided by realms of reality and space.’
I nodded, understanding more and more that exiles were not really angels any more. They were misguided egos, with power. Shitloads of power.
In that same moment I found new respect for Griffin…and Lincoln, and maybe even my mum.
‘I get it,’ I said.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
‘The willing, Destiny guides them.
The unwilling, Destiny drags them.’
Seneca
‘Violet,’ Griffin said, ‘I need to show Lincoln the bodies. He might see something I missed. If you don’t mind, you can wait here.’
What I should have said was, Sure, I’ll wait here. What I stupidly said was, ‘I want to see too. If this is part of what being a Grigori is, then I think I have a right to see.’
Griffin put a hand out, gesturing for me to walk with them as he spun on his dusty black boots. ‘I won’t lie, two were killed by sheer brutality, the other by…something even worse. None of it is peaceful in any way.’
I nodded, wondering what could be worse than sheer brutality. The three of us walked towards Magda and the other Grigori. There were no police or officials, no striped police tape, nothing to mark it as a crime scene.
‘W
ill you report this to the police?’ I asked Lincoln.
He looked at me sadly. ‘No. It’s too dangerous to involve normal humans in all of this. Plus, there’s no way to explain the injuries without raising suspicion. We have people who usually stage another scene that will alert authorities to the deaths but cover the circumstances.’
‘Like what?’ I was horrified, but strangely understood.
‘Different things – car crashes, fires, you know.’
‘Christ,’ I said. I noticed he only mentioned the kind of accident scenes that left carnage in their wake.
As we got closer to the area, I started to feel a small hum vibrate through me. I tried to control it. In hindsight, this would have been a good point to cut and run. Hindsight’s a bitch.
I saw the first body and relaxed prematurely. It was awful but not horrendous, just an inert form. My attention was drawn to the other two victims and my hand flew to my mouth. I wanted to be sick. They were both women; young, beautiful and naked. There was already a strong smell emitting from them, a combination of raw flesh and salty blood drying in the heat. I tightened my hold over my mouth when I saw the holes in their stomachs. Beside them was a pile of…organs, I think. Like a hand had torn into them and pulled out their insides, dumping them beside the empty carcasses. It was monstrous, a scene of utter destruction.
I wrapped my arms around my stomach, trying to ignore the most frightening sensation that was welling up inside me, pushing at the very fibres of my being – pure pleasure. Whoever, whatever, had done this had experienced ultimate joy in the process. And I could feel it too.
Desperate to avert my gaze, I switched my attention back to the other body. This time I really saw it. I’d heard of it before, the way a person’s mind can somehow protect them from processing things that are too disturbing. The male, still dressed and moderately undisturbed, lay in a state of emptiness, not like he was dead, more like he was lost. Dead bodies are supposed to look like they are finally at rest, but I knew now what Griffin had meant when he said we would find no peace. There was none to be had. I stared at each one, horrified, my heart crying for them. I felt suffocated.
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