Taunt

by Claire Farrell

  My stomach churned. Once again, my actions were being tied to Carl’s safety. How on earth could I keep protecting him? Why should I? Even after everything we had been through, I barely knew him, yet I kept risking everything for him. I felt like he was my younger brother, even though he was older. He just seemed so silly and impulsive that I couldn’t rely on him to look after himself. But the favours to Eddie were stacking up.

  “I hate you,” I said, and got up to leave the room, but before I walked away I felt almost certain I saw a glimmer of sadness cross his face. I hesitated for a second, then joined Carl in the shop. I waited while he served a rare customer then faced him.

  “Okay, I’m sorry,” I said. “I was being a bitch, but I still think you should go home to your family, to your fiancée, to your safe life. It’s crazy for you to risk a chance at normality for this shit.” I gestured around us and hoped he would understand, but the frown on his face deepened.

  “Just because you think normal is good doesn’t mean the rest of us have to. You think I’m warped, but you’re the one who can’t be happy with what you are! How dare you talk down to me about wanting something different when that’s what you’re all about? Whether you like it or not, I’m in this. I’m helping, and I’m a part of something, so suck on that one, Ava Delaney.”

  I stepped back, shock widening my eyes. He lowered his head immediately, his temper over. “Look, I’m sorry. But I’m a grown man. I make my own decisions, right or wrong. Don’t try and take that away from me. Not again.”

  I held up my hands, signalling defeat. Things had been so much easier when Carl didn’t have a mind of his own. “I don’t want to fight. Just promise me you won’t trust Eddie.”

  “I already promised you that once. I’ve kept that promise, don’t worry,” he said, his eyes steely and determined; all of a sudden, he reminded me of Peter. That made me sadder than I could have imagined.

  “You sure? I mean you took a job here.”

  “Yeah, of course I did. Look at all of these books. It’s a treasure trove of knowledge. I’ve already picked up a couple of things that might help you out, just trust me on that one.”

  I couldn’t hide my smile. Staying mad at Carl was impossible when he was so eager. “What did you find out then?”

  “I need to read up a bit more but, I swear, I’ll be of some help this time.”

  “You helped me last time, remember?” I said, referring to his cutting himself open in a room of vampires to give me blood. I still hadn’t forgiven him. It was pure luck that tasting his blood had satisfied my craving rather than provoking the addiction further. I could stand close to him now, but it might have turned out very differently. Every day, I waited for that to change, as I knew it would eventually.

  “I might have helped a little,” he said, picking up some books and stacking them on the shelves. I helped him with the books, mumbling thanks, and exchanging a look with him that said more than words ever could. We were connected in a way that couldn’t be achieved through hours of talking; even though the bond had been cut, some of the threads still held tight.

  As Carl had told me, the books in Eddie’s shop were extremely informative. Whenever Eddie spent time in the shop, I ignored him and picked up a book instead. I still wasn’t sure how to deal with the new knowledge; I wasn’t even sure if there was anything I could or should do about it. My best bet was avoidance, and my ignoring tool of choice was a book on hell spawn and demons. Pretty interesting reading, though the images were a little disturbing. I picked up bits and pieces of information and wondered how much was fact and how much fiction.

  Peter dropped in while Carl and I were in fits laughing about something silly. Peter’s stern expression sort of dampened the mood. A wave of nausea hit me, milder than before. Maybe I was coming down with something, and the dead shifter had nothing to do with the black-eyed Guardian named Coyle after all.

  “How are you today?” Peter asked, still looking like a rain cloud hung over his head.

  “Fine. Stuck here, of course.”

  “You ready to make a plan yet?”

  I exchanged looks with Carl. Peter could suck the fun out of every day with ease.

  “I’ve no idea where to start,” I muttered, and fingered the book I’d been reading, while I contemplated ignoring Peter as well. I didn’t want to think about the trial. I didn’t want to think about what the outcome might be. As if to hint at me, Carl took the book away and put it under the counter.

  “I do,” Peter said. Big surprise there. “Esther seems pretty smitten with you, Ava. She’s said a couple of times that she wants to help, and I think you should let her.”

  “Shouldn’t she be busy trying to figure out why one of her own tried to kill her?” I said, annoyed at Peter’s insistence that everybody drop everything to join our cause. I also found it strange how little impact the incident had on everyone around me. It was like they had all forgotten how to react to something awful. Even Carl seemed to be oblivious to near-death experiences; he hadn’t even asked me how I was feeling after being shot. The wound had already healed, but still, it felt oddly inhuman of them not to be more concerned.

  “There are plenty of others willing to take on that job,” Peter said. He might have been talking about cleaning up spilled milk. “I reckon Esther needs a distraction from that. Eddie’s all about dealing with the trial. I figure we can deal with Gideon in the meantime. Let’s not make it easy for him.”

  “So what do we do?” Carl asked.

  Peter’s eyes gleamed. “Aiden won’t help, but I get it. He has to be seen as neutral. But Esther’s only a Guardian. She has access to information we don’t, and she can easily keep an eye on Gideon’s coven without raising suspicion. We just have to persuade her to help out.”

  “Oh, is that all?” I couldn’t see Aiden allowing Esther to help, especially if it risked her job.

  “If I can give her a reason to help, then all she has to do is warn us of any deliveries or suspiciously secret transactions going on. Then we intercept one and take the goods to the Council.”

  I gaped, realising he was serious. “Okay, what if there are no deliveries before the trial starts? What if we intercept a delivery, and it isn’t the formula? How do we even know if it’s the formula? And how can we even prove that it was headed toward Gideon? Never mind the obvious problem with secret transactions.”

  Peter stared back, his jaw twitching. “Good questions,” he said, although it looked like it killed him to say it. “I’m going to work on Becca, see if she can be persuaded to rat on the vampires. It won’t be easy, but I’ll keep at her. Maybe I’ll find a way inside the building, and try to track down concrete evidence.”

  “You can’t break into the home of an entire vampire coven. You won’t make it out alive!” Carl’s impressed face belied his words.

  “Daytime. Human guards. No problem.” Peter’s mouth twisted into a cruel smile.

  I closed my eyes. Peter would hurt humans. He wouldn’t think twice. I couldn’t let him do that. “I could go with you, maybe distract the humans while you sneak around. Or the other way around.”

  “You can’t get involved in any of this, Ava. You’re in enough trouble. We can’t risk it. You stay here, and keep out of trouble.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but he carried on as if I didn’t exist. I knew with certainty then that he planned on going in fighting.

  “Esther wouldn’t ignore any evidence I find, and I’m pretty sure she, or one of her team, could keep an eye on Gideon’s bank accounts. That kind of information would have to be hacked, but that wouldn’t be a problem. If money is being sent to Spain, then we’ll know there’s a loose link that we can play on.”

  I waited, praying he would say he was joking. Peter looked so optimistic all of a sudden that I didn’t have the heart to tell him it was completely stupid. Carl decided to gently imply it instead. “You know, that’s going to take a lot of refining.”

  Peter glared at him. �
��Do you two have anything better to do?”

  Carl and I exchanged glances. Actually, we didn’t have anything better to do and, if I was going down, I didn’t want enough time to worry about it.

  “What about Eddie?” Carl said.

  Peter lowered his voice. “We don’t tell him anything. We’re going to give Ava a fighting chance, no matter what he says. Worst comes to the worst, Ava could try and influence Becca’s mind, or maybe one of the live-in pets, to force them to help us.

  “No way,” I said, straight away. I was not messing about with anyone’s mind. Never again.

  “Get over it. It’s not a big deal,” he said, surprising me because he hated that part of me.

  I glared at him, unwilling to back down. Peter stared back at me for a few seconds with a disturbingly cold look in his eyes. Finally, he relaxed, but not before a bead of sweat rolled down my spine. Something wasn’t right.

  Peter waved a hand. “Fair enough. I’m going to pay Becca a visit. See if I can get her to talk to me.”

  “She’s not going to help us,” I warned.

  “I won’t know if I don’t take the chance. I’d take you with me, but you kind of bring out the worst in her.” I made a face. I hated being stuck with Eddie.

  “Maybe you could call Esther,” Carl said. “Ask her if there’s anything she can do to help with Becca.”

  “Worth a try, but Becca’s still human, so it’s not exactly her jurisdiction. I’ll let you both know if I have any news.

  I thought about Peter’s plans when he left, and soon realised what I had to do.

  “Carl,” I said before he left that evening. “Can I trust you?”

  “You know you can.”

  I took a deep breath. “I can’t let Peter go near Gideon’s coven. Most of the people there are innocent, but he’ll hurt them anyway.”

  Carl looked taken aback. “He wouldn’t.”

  “Carl. He wants to get a job done, and he doesn’t care who gets in the way.”

  “He’s being a friend, Ava.”

  “Just trust that I know what I’m talking about. I need your help. I’m going to the coven to see if I can find out anything. They won’t expect me. I can sneak in, have a quick look around, and be gone before anything can go wrong.”

  “But Ava, what exactly are you looking for?” He sounded concerned, so I took a moment to think about it.

  “I’m not sure. I just want to go in there so Peter doesn’t have to,” I admitted.

  Carl frowned. “Ava, Peter’s idea is stupid. He’ll see that himself when he gets a chance to think it through. You can’t go over there. You don’t even know what you’re looking for.”

  “I don’t know what else to do,” I admitted. “We have to do something. This is bigger than the trial; Gideon shouldn’t get away with any of this. Imagine what would happen if all of the vampires got their hands on that formula, the amount of people who would die.” I shook my head. Gideon had dragged me into his mess, and I wanted out of it. Nobody seemed willing to go after him, and somebody needed to.

  “Hey, I get it. I want to stop him, too. Maybe if Esther speaks to Becca herself, she might help. If she saw her, she’d know there was something very wrong there. Maybe that would be enough, and nobody would have to break in,” Carl suggested.

  “Peter probably will anyway, and end up locked away himself. Could you maybe call Peter and see if he can persuade Esther to tag along, as a favour to me?”

  Carl made the call, and Peter arranged to visit Becca with Esther the following day. It was a small relief. I hoped the visit to Becca would go well enough, and Peter would drop the idea of breaking into Gideon’s home.

  That night, I asked Eddie if I could take some of his books to the spare room I was using. He said it was okay, but he handpicked them himself without a word. He turned off all the lights and pushed me toward the stairs before I could choose a book on my own. I knew being around him was going to be difficult, but I hadn’t expected there to be quite so much tension in the air.

  That evening, I sat in Eddie’s spare room and tried to read the books, but they seemed more of the fairy tale variety than the genuine kind. I debated ringing my grandmother, but I remembered what Eddie had said about me being told the whole truth. My phone shook in my palm, and I put it down. I decided the whole truth could wait for a few days.

  Chapter Eleven

  The next morning, I awoke early. I dressed quickly and went downstairs before Eddie got up so I could get a chance to read one of the more authentic books that he kept steering me away from. When Eddie finally showed his face, I slid the book back under the counter and pretended I hadn’t been doing anything. He narrowed his eyes but didn’t say anything about it, although he stayed very close to me for the next few hours.

  “You can help out today, Ava,” he told me. “Give you something to do.”

  I shrugged, pretending I didn’t care, but inside I was swearing. I wanted to be free to think about the trial and Gideon without Eddie breathing down my neck. Eddie was so against us trying to do things another way that it kicked off a brand new wave of suspicion. I knew he needed me for something, but he wanted the trial to go his way for reasons I hadn’t figured out yet.

  “Why don’t you get some breakfast upstairs?” he asked, at last.

  “Not hungry,” I told him, although my stomach was rumbling pretty loudly.

  “You could always make yourself a cup of tea or something. The air in here is so drying.” As soon as he said it, the moisture was ripped from the air; my throat dried up instantly. The more he tried to get rid of me, the more obstinate I felt.

  “I’m okay, Eddie,” I said with a bland smile. “It’s fine in here.”

  He frowned and was about to speak again when Carl breezed into the shop carrying a bag.

  “Morning, Ava,” he said cheerily. “Hi, Eddie. I know I’m early, but I thought I’d have breakfast with Ava before we opened up.”

  Eddie made a face and gave up, mumbling under his breath about me not being hungry as he walked away.

  “Thank you so much,” I said, pulling Carl into a grateful hug. The effects of the blood bond were still there because I always felt better when he was around. The door opened, and Peter walked in carrying steaming cups of coffee and looking even moodier than the day before. I grabbed the bag out of Carl’s hand and delved in.

  “Oh, my God, I’m half-starved,” I moaned, reaching for a breakfast roll.

  “I forgot you eat like a teenage boy,” Carl teased.

  “Yeah, yeah.” I hoisted myself onto the counter. I unwrapped my food, took a bite and let out a little happy moan.

  Carl and Peter exchanged bemused glances.

  “Leave me alone,” I said. “Eddie’s been following me around all morning, trying to see what I’m up to. I couldn’t even get anything to eat.”

  “What were you doing?” Peter asked.

  “Just reading a book; he’s doesn’t seem to want me to read half the books here. They’re just books. I don’t know why he’s so interested,” I complained.

  “Maybe there’s something here he doesn’t want you to see,” Carl ventured.

  “I’ve seen enough, trust me.”

  Peter took a sip of his coffee and inched toward me casually. “Like what?”

  A familiar sick feeling churned my stomach, and I put my food down. I couldn’t pass it off as nothing anymore. With a sinking feeling, I watched Peter carefully. I was used to things feeling off in Eddie’s shop, but this was altogether too familiar. “Never mind,” I said at last.

  Peter looked vaguely disappointed, but he didn’t press the issue. After a moment, the sick feeling eased off, but I was no longer in the mood for food.

  “So, anyway,” I said. “I’m supposed to help out here today. Eddie’s idea of a punishment, I suppose. Peter, you still on with Esther?” I hoped I didn’t sound too eager.

  “Yeah, unless Aiden is keeping her locked indoors in case she gets attacked again.”<
br />
  “That was weird, wasn’t it? In the club, I mean,” I added.

  Peter frowned. “It was, actually. Shifters always stick together, and they keep themselves in control when they bunch together like that. They never turn on their own, especially not in public. That’s what I don’t understand about it. If they have problems, they keep them locked in. Sometimes shifters disappear, but it’s done following their rules. I’ve been thinking about what happened, and it makes no sense. I’ve never heard of a shifter harming himself. Not like that.”

  “Esther was pretty shocked, too,” I said. “But she didn’t seem too upset by it.”

  “They don’t experience emotions like humans,” Peter explained. “The animal side keeps them pragmatic about certain things. The danger was over; therefore, there was no real reason for her to stay scared or upset by it.”

  “That’s strange,” I said.

  “She’s nice, though,” Carl said, his face brightening. “Maybe Becca will warm to her, too.”

  “I really can’t see Becca giving us information freely.” Becca wanted to be a vampire; she would hardly rat on the others.

  “So we make her,” Peter said, his expression turning ice cold. We finished our coffees in silence. I felt sick again and knew it had something to do with Peter. The spirit blew gently on the back of my neck, and I realised I had the means to find out if there really was something wrong with Peter.

  As we sat there, I sent out my other sense, knowing the others would never realise what was happening. I felt Eddie’s presence upstairs then returned to the shop. Many sensations around me, not human, not vampire, something different. I wondered if it could be the souls I had seen Eddie take advantage of. On a whim, I tried to find the spirit that followed me around. I couldn’t see a thing.

  I swooped my other sense over Carl, everything fine and normal there. Then I turned to Peter. Red pulses, normal. I pushed harder, moved onto that other plane and saw something that wasn’t quite normal, something that sent shudders of apprehension through my body. A dark shadow clung to Peter, swallowing his inner light. It held tight, not quite able to seep into his soul.