Taunt

by Claire Farrell

  I jumped to my feet and went over to the young woman who lay on the ground holding her side, a look of shock on her face.

  “Are you okay?” I asked. Peter grabbed my arm and pulled me aside. Glancing behind me, I saw the man raise his knife, but at the last second he drove it into his own heart. He shuddered violently before dropping to the ground, dead.

  “What the hell?” I whispered amidst more screams.

  “How did you know?” the woman asked me, and I realised I recognised her as one of the Guardians from the hearing.

  I shook my head, not sure what had happened. I’d reacted without thinking, as always. The Guardian examined her wound, suddenly more sure of herself than before. “It’s nothing, just a shallow cut, it’ll be gone as soon as I phase.”

  Phase? I glanced at Peter, who shook his head slightly.

  “Thank you,” she said. “It could have been worse. You grabbed him just in time.”

  I shrugged and moved through the gathered crowds back to my seat, carefully avoiding Gabe’s stern expression. Peter followed, giving a low whistle. Looking back, I saw Gabe and Finn help the young woman into the back room. Some others, their faces grave, carried the body through another door.

  “What happened?” Peter urged, his voice low as he looked around.

  “I smelled fear.” I didn’t know how else to explain it. The blackness in the air that turned my stomach terrified me.

  “Esther was scared? She didn’t seem like she even noticed the knife until he was on the ground with it.”

  “Esther’s the girl? No, not her fear. His. He was terrified and angry and just a black ball of emotion. He was suffocating in it.” I’d never felt anything so strong before.

  “You sensed all that?”

  “Not exactly. I smelled it. Kind of. I know, it’s weird, but it’s definitely a scent. I can sense things, see things sometimes, but I have to concentrate. But the smells come even when I’m not concentrating. That and the sound of his heart racing. He was really freaked out. I’m not sure what was going through his head.”

  Peter’s eyebrows furrowed, disbelief crossing his face, but he didn’t argue. I think we had both reached a point where anything was possible.

  Finn came back out to the bar and handed me a large glass filled to the brim with a liquid that sparkled.

  “On the house,” he said. “For avoiding a murder.”

  “And providing a suicide?” I said, snarkily. “You’re welcome.”

  He raised an eyebrow, then leaned toward me. “I dare you to drink this down in one go.”

  I glanced at Peter, who was grinning. The whole bar had gone back to normal, as if a man hadn’t just stabbed himself and died in the centre of the room.

  “Is this a good idea?” I asked Peter.

  “Probably not. But if you’re game, drink up.”

  I sniffed the blue liquid. It was sort of fruity smelling. I picked up the glass and eyed it. It didn’t look like it would kill me.

  Finn was already chuckling when I lifted the glass to my lips and took a hesitant sip. Not bad. I tipped the glass and horsed the entire contents down my throat before slamming it down and giving a little hiccup.

  “Finn! What did you do?” a woman shouted from behind us. Finn laughed out loud, but it echoed in my ears, too loud and harsh.

  My vision getting hazy, I looked at Peter. “This is screwy,” I mumbled, feeling like my tongue had just grown too big for my mouth. The drink rested in the pit of my stomach, burning hot. My tongue sparked with fire, or so it felt.

  “Finn, that was shameful,” Esther exclaimed. Finn didn’t look ashamed, not that I could see him properly.

  “S’okay,” I tried to say. I stood slowly and deliberately, feeling like my whole body was heavier than usual. Peter began to laugh, louder when I stumbled.

  Esther said something, but I couldn’t hear very well. The walls started turning upside down, and so did my balance. I landed face first on the floor. There was more noise around me, then everything went dark.

  Chapter Nine

  I woke up groaning. My head pounded; it felt like someone had chopped the top of it right off. It reminded me of my time in Maximus’s home, and I squeezed my eyelids together, hoping the nightmare would end soon. Something cold slapped my forehead, and I opened my eyes with a start.

  “It’s okay,” Esther said as she squeezed a wet rag and dampened my forehead again. “You’ll feel better soon; Gabe cleaned out your system.”

  I didn’t even want to know what that meant. Looking around, I saw a strange room and panicked. “Where am I?” I asked, sitting up too quickly and feeling it. “Ow.” I pressed my palm against my temple, hoping to push the pain away. I touched my bandaged stomach tentatively. It stung, and I wondered if I might have opened the wound when I fell.

  “It’s okay. This is the back room of the bar. You’ve only been out about an hour.”

  “An hour? I have to get back.” I tried to sit up again and winced.

  “Chill. You’re in Gabe’s place. There’s no rush. My brother’s out there questioning everyone. Trust me, you’d rather be here.”

  “Your brother?”

  “Aidan. He’s a consultant for the Council.”

  “Oh, him. What… you’re not human, are you?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Is that a problem for you?”

  I laughed, but it came out too harsh and made me cough. Esther handed me a cup. I sipped it and held her stare. “I can’t exactly talk about not being human.”

  She nodded as if satisfied. “We’re animal shifters. I turn into a bear, so I can’t really claim to be human. I work for the Council, too. Do you remember me?”

  “I remember. You were at the hearing. What exactly do Guardians do every day?” I meant, aside from watching women undress.

  “We’re the equivalent of a police force, pretty much, so when one of us is attacked, there’s a scene.”

  “Wow,” I said, swallowing hard. “Are you… arresting me?”

  Her face brightened, and she burst into bubbly laughter. Seriously – a were-bear? “You saved my life! I owe you big time.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” I took a sip of water to avoid saying anything else.

  “Sorry about the trial.” She bit her lip. “If there’s anything I can do…”

  “It’s fine,” I said. “Nothing anyone can do right now. Wait, you got stabbed, are you alright?”

  “Oh, that was nothing. I healed almost as soon as I phased.” She pulled her hair back into a clip, and I almost laughed at the idea of her turning into a bear in such a tiny room.

  “Handy trick. So, what’s been happening out there?”

  She grinned, her eyes crinkling in amusement. “Gabe made Finn carry you back here while Aiden went alpha out there. Finn was mostly afraid you’d puke on him, or that you’d wake up suddenly like a tranquilised tiger and bite him or something.”

  I rolled my eyes. “As if.”

  “I know, right? That drink, though, I can’t believe you knocked it back!” She sounded impressed.

  “Why? What was it?” I could barely remember tasting it.

  “They didn’t tell you? Idiots. It’s a fae drink. Their form of a shot. Except it’s really potent for everyone else. You had a crazy reaction to it, you were mumbling and drooling and—”

  “I get the picture,” I interrupted, embarrassed. I’d never been drunk before. “Is Peter gone?”

  “He’s waiting in the bar with some human. Tall, blond, very cute?” She paused, waiting for me to fill her in.

  “That’s Carl. He’s, uh, he was my… well, I sort of enthralled him by accident a while ago. That’s what started the mess I’m in,” I admitted, cringing.

  “He’s the one? I wouldn’t have let that one go,” she joked. I smiled back at her, feeling totally at ease.

  The door opened, and one of the consultants from the hearing walked in. He strode straight over to Esther and embraced her. “How are you feeling?”
he asked, looking her over quickly.

  “I’m fine.” She pushed him away. “Aiden, this is Ava, she stopped it from being a lot worse. Ava, this is my big brother, Aiden.”

  I nodded at him, feeling wary, but something in his eyes made me feel like there were no secrets behind them.

  Aiden shook my hand. “Thank you. I owe you a favour. Speaking of which, Peter tells me you might be safer away from Brogan. If he doesn’t have your best interests at heart here and, seeing as you saved my sister, I can make other arrangements for you.” His eyes narrowed. “After that, I can’t help you.”

  “It doesn’t matter. Really.” Better the devil I knew, I decided.

  Esther put her arm around me. “But at least let me help. I owe you my life.”

  “No more projects, Esther,” her brother said under his breath. She glared back at him.

  “Um, should I go now?” I asked, trying to escape the tension between them.

  “I have a few questions first,” Aiden said, and sat next to me. “What exactly happened earlier? Nobody else, not even Esther, knew anything was wrong until you flew across the room.”

  I bit the inside of my cheek, quickly figuring out exactly how much I should reveal to someone who worked for the Council. “It’s hard to explain. I kind of… felt his tension. He was so angry and scared that I couldn’t help looking, and I saw a knife in his hand. I knew I had to get over there.”

  “You sensed the fact that a respected Guardian was about to attack one of their Circle, even though nobody else noticed a thing?” He sounded sceptical, but I couldn’t explain it any better.

  “A respected Guardian?” I tried to change the subject, but I wanted to know the full story, too.

  Aiden’s jaw tightened. “He was one of ours. A shifter, a Guardian.”

  “A were-bear?”

  “No, a fox. I’ve no idea why he attacked Esther.” He looked troubled, as though the world rested on his shoulders. “I need to finish up out there; I’ll let Peter know you’re awake.” He left without a backward glance.

  “So, you’re like those other Guardians then, those men?” I couldn’t resist wrapping my arms around myself; the more I learned about Guardians, the less I liked them.

  Esther stared at me for a minute, like she was trying to read something on my face. “Did something happen?”

  “Nah. I should probably get going. Eddie’s going to be pissed. I kind of snuck off.” I blushed, knowing I sounded like a kid who was going to get in trouble with her parents.

  “Oh, wait,” Esther said. “Give the poison a chance to get out of your system. You’re probably going to be wobbly for a day or two. Aiden might want another word with you, too.”

  “I’ve told him everything I know. I can’t help what I can do.”

  “Hey, no worries. He’s just doing his job. And like I said, if I can do anything to help you, I will. I pay back everything I owe.” She smiled, but I couldn’t help wondering what Aiden meant by projects. “More water?”

  I nodded, and she rose to open a fresh bottle. “So,” she said, handing it to me. “What’s the deal with you and Peter Brannigan?”

  “What do you mean?” Though my question was genuine, my heart started racing anyway.

  “He always works alone! I don’t think he’s ever said two words to me before, and now he’s running around with you and Carl, who is hot, by the way, even though he’s supposed to be this scary—”

  “Well, he’s not,” I interrupted, feeling my face burn.

  She leaned back and smirked all the more. “Come on, there has to be something going on.”

  “There isn’t,” I insisted. “A couple of weeks ago, he wanted me dead. But then he helped me with Carl, and we’re getting on okay sometimes. No big deal.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t know what he does, do you?”

  I shook my head. “All I really know is that his family was murdered, and that’s how he learned about people like us.” I stopped talking because I realised I didn’t actually know what he did when he wasn’t helping me. He hadn’t been generous with the details.

  Esther shivered dramatically. “He scares me. He hates all of us. He tolerates my kind because he knows we can control ourselves, and he respects Aiden. But I can see the disgust in his eyes when he looks at us. The Council hired him, you know.”

  “To do what?” I asked, fascinated.

  Esther bit her lip, and my stomach filled with dread. “He works freelance, does all sorts of things, but the Council hired him to be a hitman. He gets away with it because he’s human and can’t be brought up before the Council. But it’s dangerous; I only know because Koda warned us to ignore Peter if we found him in the middle of something dodgy.”

  She pulled her knees up toward her and waited for my reaction. I wasn’t sure what to think. I could see why Peter would do that job. After all, hadn’t I been Daimhín’s own personal hitwoman when it came to ending Maximus’s life?

  “I guess that makes sense,” I said after a minute.

  “It’s one of those secrets everyone knows, but nobody talks about. But I thought I should clue you in, seeing as you’re running around with him. Watch your back, you know? It was Brogan who got him the job; he came up with the idea in the first place.”

  My own eyes narrowed then. Of course he did. “Eddie’s supposed to care about Peter, and he gets him a dangerous job like that?” I was fuming. “Esther,” I said, remembering the reaction to Peter in Becca’s bar. “Are vampires kind of edgy around Peter because of the hitman deal?”

  Her eyes widened. “No, that’s just a rumour as far as most vampires know. People are scared of him for a couple of reasons. One, he doesn’t care if he lives or dies. A suicidal human is just as dangerous as a sorcerer or demon. Two, he’s pretty bad-ass. He is just so bloody determined and vengeful that he won’t fall until the fight is over. He put on a damn scary display a few years back that made everything in this country think twice before taking him on. Maybe you should ask him about it sometime.”

  “What about Eddie?”

  She shuddered. “I can’t bear him. He used to be on the Council.”

  “What? Really?”

  “Yep. Erossi has his place now.”

  “The immortal?”

  Esther nodded fervently. “That’s him. Eddie used to speak for the immortals, but there was a big incident before I was born, something major involving Eddie. It was an embarrassment; he was shamed and forced to leave the Council. They gave him a seat as a consultant to pacify him, and nobody talks about it, just little whispers and rumours.”

  “Any idea what happened?”

  “None, it’s all very hush-hush. Some people reckon he’ll get back on the Council one day.”

  I thought about this. “Wait, who did you say he represented?”

  “The immortals.” Her tone said, “Duh.”

  “Eddie? He’s immortal?” I asked, gobsmacked.

  Her mouth widened into an "o" shape. “You didn’t know?”

  “Eh, no! What the hell is he?”

  “I’m not totally sure, but it’s something to do with keepers and knowledge and sleeping gods and some such crap. I don’t know. A lot of these creatures have very longwinded histories; I can’t keep up.”

  “What about you?”

  “Me? I was born this way. Respectable family, then Daddy married beneath himself. We were pretty happy until Mama died when I was little. Unexpectedly too, so she never warned him she could shift into animal form. He got the fright of his life when Aiden started doing it in his teens. It became this big family secret, but when I started doing it too, he knew he had to do something about it.”

  “What did he do?” I was riveted.

  “He found out what we were, then paid some other shifters a lot of money to take care of us. Eventually, we settled in and learned what we were doing. Turned out Aiden is this hard-core alpha figure, which ruffled a few feathers. After lots and lots of shit, he took over. First as head
of the pack who took us on, then he stepped up to keep all of the shifters in line. Some of them were practically feral, yuck!” She made a face. “The Council saw what he was doing and offered him a seat as a consultant. Daddy had left us a bit of money to keep us quiet so he could wash his hands of us completely, and here we are.”

  “How old are you, Esther?”

  “Twenty-one.” She made a face.

  “That’s pretty young for all of that Guardian responsibility. Are you happy?”

  “Pretty much. I mean, it’s kind of cool being the alpha’s little sister. In this world, people look up to us. When I was growing up, my dad pretty much thought of us as freaks.” She rolled her eyes, but I sensed her hurt.

  “I can relate. That sounds an awful lot like my grandmother, Nancy. She kept trying to cure me when I was a kid.”

  “Do you mind me saying? You don’t smell like a vampire. What exactly are you? Everyone’s calling you a daywalker. You don’t smell much like a vampire, and I always thought a daywalker was something mythical, you know, a vampire that wasn’t affected by the sun?”

  I couldn’t help smiling. “You probably know more about it than I do.” I remembered she might know more than me about lots of things. “Hey, there was a girl in the cell next to me, Leah. I think she escaped. Do you know anything about her?”

  Esther shook her head and changed the subject. I had a feeling she knew something about Leah but didn’t want to say anything. That piqued my interest even more. Esther had given me a lot to think about, yet all my mind concentrated on was Leah.

  Esther crossed her legs and stared at me. “So tell me more about this formula that helps humans turn into vampires. I thought Peter was crazy, but looking at you… well, anything’s possible.”

  I leaned back and thought for a second. Where to start? “I’m not sure how much you know about what happened to me, but both Daimhín and Maximus were after me. So I decided to step out of the way and let the two of them deal with each other. Becca runs the Black Rose bar, and she was a volunteer. We went to speak to her to find out about Maximus.”