Personal Warriors

by Rachel A. Collett

  “They’re just using you, you know.”

  His shadowed form took shape. “And I them. Mutually beneficial.”

  As he intercepted my path, my eyes traveled the length of this body. He wore no shoes and was otherwise naked except for his black pants. Multi-colored paints, bright and obnoxious, swirled on his exposed skin, continuing below the line of his jeans.

  Disgust contorted my features. I stopped, taking a measured step to the side. “You make me sick.”

  “Do I?” he asked. He swooped forward, embracing me in his decorated arms. I hardened, my eyes narrowed on his. His lips paused a breath away. “I thought when you were finally bonded to your mate, I wouldn’t desire you so much, but I was wrong. You’re even more appetizing than you were before.”

  My power came so easily now, almost as easy as breathing. I clenched my fist, setting it loose. Jonathan blasted from me, landing in a low crouch.

  “Careful, Jonny,” I warned. “Don’t break something you can’t fix. Go back to your new family. You belong with them.”

  He slowly rose, his eyes wary. “What’s this about?”

  “Did you do this to get at me?”

  “Would it matter?” But when I didn’t answer, he half smiled. “This coven is… persistent. It was just a little bit of fun.”

  “They think that you’ll give them a child. A child that will secure your continued protection from the Annihilator and a savior for their future.”

  Jonathan stilled. “Well, that’s foolish of them.”

  “And you played into their schemes.” Without permission, I pressed the interview with Gayle into his mind. “You are a pawn to the very coven that betrayed my mother to the Annihilator.”

  “I—” His mouth snapped closed. He stood straight, his shoulders pulled back. “How could I know that?”

  I hissed an annoyed breath. “Don’t lie to me.”

  Muscles flexed in his jaw. He threw wide his arms, the length of them corded with strength. His mind flared open, exposing centuries of knowledge and memories. Pain exploded. I grasped the sides of my head to control the onslaught of information. It was too much. But just as quickly as it started, it stopped. Jonathan boarded up the dam, halting the flow.

  I shook my head, purging my brain of his unusual consciousness. My chest rose and fell in shuddering breaths, but the anger melted from my heart. He didn’t know of Gayle’s betrayal. His intentions, as polluted as they were, were innocent enough… for a demon.

  He stood in front of me, taking my hands in his. “I’m sorry.” He whispered, as if the sound of his voice would hurt. “I didn’t mean… Ava, what is going on?”

  But I couldn’t tell him everything. Not yet. Exhaustion pulled at my every muscle.

  I scrunched my nose to the smell of the natural ingredients of the paint. Finger strokes from multiple hands had traveled his skin this night, but I didn’t really care. He was who he was and for that reason alone relief flooded my senses.

  I rolled my eyes, feigning annoyance, and looked away. “Will you give them what they want?”

  Jonathan tucked several wisps of my hair behind my ear. “I gave them me. What more of a gift can I give—”

  “Jon—”

  “The joke’s on them. Really, Ava. I’m sterile.”

  Uncontrolled laughter erupted from my lips.

  He shrugged. “It’s just one of the many gifts I give to humanity when I take over a mortal.”

  I covered my mouth, speaking through cracks in my fingers. “Are you kidding?”

  “I rarely kid, Ava. And I never lie. Remember? This—” He motioned behind him to the coven and the forest beyond. “This was just a bit of fun. You can’t be the only one that gets any action.”

  I pushed him away, then hissed when the Rite decorations smeared on my hand. I cursed out loud.

  “I’ve got to go.” I paused to wipe the offensive sex paint on the grass. Jonathan watched with barely contained humor. “Are you going back to the Rite?”

  He stepped back, his arms wide in display. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve left a few things behind. What will you do about the informant?”

  “I’ll take care of it.”

  “But what will you do?” he asked, pressing the information.

  “The right thing. Give it over to Fiona. This is her department.”

  His gaze narrowed, searching my face, but I kept clear of his thoughts. I wasn’t sure I could handle more of his particularity.

  “Go then,” he said, giving my shoulders a gentle nudge toward the veil. “Go find your aunt. And give her my love while you’re at it.”

  I batted away his affection. “You’ve given enough people your love.”

  “And get some sleep. You look like crap.”

  I looked down at my baggy pajama top and sweats tucked into my combat boots, but before I could defend my choice of sleepwear, Jonathan disappeared. His consciousness pulled from me so quickly that my body wavered on the spot. My breath left me in an annoyed whoosh.

  “Jon—” I growled beneath my breath. “Fiona is back there,” I said to no one.

  24

  A Walk in the Mist

  I turned a slow circle, scanning the area with my mental awareness. Mustering my energy, I set my path toward the estate.

  The thick air was like ice on my skin, but I couldn’t get sick. I was an immortal. So, I ignored the growing cold even though it set my teeth chattering. The adrenaline from anger was gone. Now I was hyperaware of everything surrounding me.

  It was probably more foolish to go back alone in the middle of the night, but I didn’t want to call back Jonathan. I needed time to think, and that would be impossible with him near.

  I pulled the Demon’s Eye from beneath my shirt. My mother’s talisman was warm, emitting no warnings from its inky depths.

  “Hepzibah.” I stopped in my steps, waiting another moment for a reply that never came. “Hepzibah, will you walk with me?”

  The pendant pulsed, but only annoyance seeped from its surface. I let out a sharp breath, patting my sweatpants for my knife. If the Eye opened to a demon’s blood, would it open to mine? I pulled my knife from my pocket, released the blade, and pressed the tip to my finger.

  What are you doing? Hepzibah’s irritated voice finally spoke. Do not cut yourself.

  I paused. “I’d like you to walk with me, if you would permit it.”

  It’s only a demon’s blood that will open this portal, you fool.

  “How do you know? Did my mother ever try this?” A mortal couldn’t cut me, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t.

  When Hepzibah didn’t answer, I sliced the blade across the pad of my finger. A low light gradually oozed from the stone, its reaction weaker than using a demon’s blood, but mine had triggered the correct response. She solidified in front of me, and I almost smiled. She had been careful not to hurt me.

  “So it worked. Congratulations. You have weakened yourself.” She crossed her arms, swathed in a flowing black robe, thick in layers, that wrapped her powerful frame. Her braided hair spun in a bun at the base of her neck.

  I shrugged, sucking at the blood on my finger. Hepzibah grimaced, disgusted.

  “It was worth it,” I said.

  Her guarded expression and flint-like gaze couldn’t hide her curiosity. “You want me to walk with you? What for?”

  “Another set of eyes.” I gestured ahead of me.

  One brow raised. “Wouldn’t your mate be a better selection? Or even Jonathan?”

  “You know Darius isn’t allowed at the coven—bringing him would only complicate matters. And Jonathan would never allow me to think. I need to be alone with my thoughts, but aware of my surroundings. You’ve always been constant in that way. Will you be my companion for the time being and walk with me?”

  She stared so long that I grew restless. Thinking I had received my answer, I moved around her, but instead of disappearing into the Demon’s Eye, Hepzibah set her pace at my side.
I tucked my surprise, keeping my response calm.

  “Thank you.”

  Her sharp eyes scanned ahead, but she placed a finger to her temple. “Stay out of here.”

  “I promise.” Instead, I focused on the task ahead.

  Gayle was the informant, but that was all I had assessed. During the previous week we had worked to control my powers, not to use them. My first encounter applying this new skill outside the sanctuary had been stimulating. The questions I sought for came easily enough, but while I had been able to get the information I sought, I didn’t know much else.

  I delved deeper, analyzing the way my gift worked. Besides the top-most thoughts, concerns, and memories, the rest seemed to function like a large filing cabinet. Tons of information was stored within. Had I asked all the right questions to find what I needed?

  Were any others involved in the plot besides Gayle? I didn’t know because I didn’t ask. This was why Fiona wanted me to have a plan. After all, mind-reading only went so far.

  The conversation with Gayle echoed in my brain until I got dizzy. I pinched the bridge of my nose.

  “How much do you see, Hepzibah?” I tapped the surface of the pendant. “Inside here.”

  She continued our march, staring off into the fog. Her lips pressed together in a thin line as she measured her answer carefully.

  “Everything. Everything you see, we see. If not me, Selina or Silicas takes note.”

  “You take notes on my life?”

  She lifted a brow. “What else is there to do? We oversee all that happens, both inside and out.”

  I cleared my throat, suddenly swollen in embarrassment. I would remember to take off the necklace the next time I was alone with Darius. “You said there’s a city in the Demon’s Eye.”

  “Yes.”

  “Don’t you work to build it?”

  “Of course. We are its founders, but now we have others to do the work. The newer recruits have more zest from their previous life—more energy. Working helps to calm them.”

  “So they work, and you spy on me?”

  She shrugged. “Isn’t it good to know what your enemy does?”

  Disappointment coursed through my chest, but I wasn’t sure why. “Are we enemies, Hepzibah?”

  Her head tilted to the side as she thought over my question. “We are natural enemies, yes.”

  “But my mother—”

  “There are things in nature that happen that do not make sense, yes? My relationship with your mother, and even you, are among those, but all must be set back in balance. And soon.”

  We climbed the steep stone pathway that hid the estate grounds. The muscles between my brows cinched tight as I processed her response. Even though I knew she was right, I fought the reasoning. “Did you hear my conversation with Gayle?”

  “What about it?”

  “Did you know?”

  She paused to look over her shoulder at the misty land we had just navigated. “No. We thought Gayle was a friend. There was nothing out of the ordinary with her actions.”

  “But did you hear what she—"

  “We heard all of it.”

  I smiled at her impatience. “Yes, but I mean the part about the Annihilator giving her time.”

  “What of it?”

  “Did that sound like someone else we know? Another offer extended?”

  Hepzibah went still as she processed my question. It took almost everything I had not to poke around in her thoughts, but I had made a promise.

  Her eyes grew wide. She spoke through clenched teeth. “Nikolaos.”

  I nodded. “Annie once asked me if I was sure she was the one that killed my mother. She made it sound as if she took credit for doing something she didn’t do. What could she gain by telling me this?”

  She turned on her heel, continuing up the hill. “You know why she does it. To throw you off her scent.”

  “But what if she’s not the one that did it?” I asked, following.

  I almost knocked into her when she stopped to glare at me. “What does it matter? Whether she did it or that worthless new play toy of hers did it, they both need to die, do they not?”

  “Yes—”

  “Would you grant one or the other clemency based on who laid the final blow?”

  I recoiled at the sudden harshness in her words. “Never.”

  “Then what does it matter? Haven’t you learned that the battle you face is more than the revenge you seek for a dead mother or father?”

  My mouth clamped shut as heat exploded upon my face, but still Hepzibah continued. “How far will you go to learn the truth about something that no longer matters?”

  I clenched my fists. “Their deaths matter to me!”

  She tsked her annoyance. “It should be their lives that matter to you—their work that must continue. I know all about death. Believe me, those that have moved on are in a far better place than this hell-hole. Let them and their memory be.”

  Fire blazed from my core, heating my face, but I had nothing to lash back with. The truthfulness of her words speared me. I was beaten. Hepzibah waited for my rebuke, her shoulders pinned back and head high, but when I didn’t have one, curiosity and confusion mingled in her expression. “What,” she mocked. “Nothing?”

  After a moment I shook my head, swallowing against the lump lodged in my throat. “What is there to say? You’re right.”

  Her eyes flashed over my face. “Am I?”

  “Although I want to call you every name in the book… you’re right. I need to move on, and I’m trying. I just—I don’t know how.”

  Her shoulders dropped and a look close to pity crossed over her. “One step at a time, little Defender. Your searches for those responsible have been valuable enough. We’re discovering the traitors. That’s very important in wars.”

  I nodded, wringing my fingers. “So is keeping an eye on your enemies. It may have been a bad idea to call out Gayle so soon.”

  Her lips twisted up in the corners. “It might not be too late. She could still be a valuable resource. Possibly lead us to any others involved.”

  I nodded, moving forward. Hepzibah reclaimed her position at my side. My energy was gone. All I wanted to do was slink into my comfortable bed back at home, but I had more to do. “Thank you for your insight and company.”

  “You shall always have it.” She gave me a wry smile, one of the first genuine smiles she had ever given me. “Whether you want it or not.”

  I laughed, feeling for the first time since arriving at the coven a sense of buoyancy. Hepzibah might be my natural enemy, but she was valuable to me. They all were.

  We crested the hill and a blurred light in the distance caught my attention. At first, I thought it was the bonfire still raging from the Rite, but as we neared and the fog thinned, the flames were not blocked by the forest trees. Ice crept into my core. Something was wrong.

  Was the coven on fire and the witches under attack? Had the Annihilator already found out Gayle had slipped the truth?

  I looked to Hepzibah, anxiety thick in my voice. “What’s going on?”

  One brow lifted. “Am I a mind-reader? Go.”

  I bolted toward the light. Inexplicable fear for Fiona turned my stomach. Voices and thoughts, angry, fearful and revengeful, were thick upon the night, but there were too many to single out. I ran down the hill, nearly tripping over my own feet.

  A bonfire raged in the center of the courtyard. Fire lit multiple torches, casting evil shadows upon veiled heads.

  “There she is!” one voice called out, and all attention shot to me. I slowed my rapid descent, halting completely just beyond the gate where over fifty witches marched toward my position. My eyes swept the lines of female bodies. Not a single demon threatened their defenses, and they all carried weapons. Knives, staffs, and even stones.

  A figure burst through their ranks. Fiona, only dressed in her favorite lilac-colored gown, ran at me. She turned on the spot. Her arms shot out defensively. “Stay where yo
u are.”

  Roslyn stepped from the center of the group, drawing a long, decorative knife. “You cannot protect her.” Voices blended together in agreement.

  The muscle below my eye twitched. “Protect me—?”

  “Who is that?” She jabbed her blade to somewhere behind me, and I froze.

  My shoulders stiffened. “It is none of your concern,” I said. “Hepzibah. Please return to your home.”

  A second later, energy pulsed from the Demon’s Eye. Hepzibah had obeyed.

  Satisfaction pulled at Roslyn’s lips. “That was a demon, was it?” She turned a circle, raising her voice above the crowd. A pendant swung from her chest. My gaze narrowed at a brooch set above her heart. Several rings bejeweled her fingers. The bracelet she wore was Gayle’s. “The Defender consorts with demons! This is not the first time I’ve witnessed this creature, either. Is it odd that someone who’s supposed to protect us walks and talks with the enemy as if they are her friends? I know of at least three demons that this girl communes with daily! Who does that and is not taken over by a Fallen?”

  “She is the killer!” someone yelled.

  I jolted, my mouth suddenly dry. “Wait, what?”

  “There’s no proof that what you say is true,” Fiona said, taking a step closer to my side.

  I threw up my hands. “I didn’t kill anybody—not today, at least.”

  Roslyn’s eyes hardened. “Always so cocky. Don’t pretend you had nothing to do with the death of our great leader.”

  My breath whooshed from my lungs. “Gayle—Gayle is dead?”

  “Roslyn.” Fiona stepped in front of me, shielding me from the verbal assault. “You have no proof.”

  But Roslyn didn’t even see the Healer. She pointed an accusing finger at me. “Murderer.”

  I stood my ground as all eyes shifted to me. I gritted my teeth. “I didn’t kill anyone,” I repeated.

  But I would find out who did.

  Fear and anger swirled from the mass of witches, ready to lay judgement and verdict. I couldn’t wade through them all. I pressed the Demon’s Eye, but the custodians within were choosing to quietly watch.