by Kelly Oram
Dani blinked. “Gracie? Who’s Gracie?”
She was staring at me as if she didn’t know me at all. I guess she didn’t anymore. “Not my wife, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
She glared again. “Don’t be a jerk. I just want to know where you’ve been. You’ve been gone for five months.”
“Danielle.” Gabe pulled her back down when she jumped up from her chair again. “Do we need to let the rest of the council handle this one without us?”
“What?” she asked, startled. “No.”
“Then could you please save your personal matters for later? We are here about the murders of twenty-seven innocent people.”
Ethan and I both scoffed at the word innocent.
Dani curbed her curiosity, and the council finally looked as if they were ready to hear us out. Ethan waved to me. “You insisted on coming with. Go for it.”
I decided to go with short and sweet. “Andrew De La Cote developed a fixation on our friend Grace. She needed our help, and we gave it.”
“That’s it?” Councilor Sena asked. “That’s all the explanation you have for us?”
“Do you need more?”
Heat flashed in the vamp’s cold eyes. “Andrew De La Cote was an honorable man. He lived six hundred years without a problem, and was in very good standing with this council.”
Ethan shrugged. “Fixations change people. He became a threat to the supernatural community, and as a leader he dragged his entire coven down with him. We had no choice.”
“No choice?”
“Grace didn’t like Andrew,” Ethan explained. “When she refused him, his obsession got out of control. He became dangerous.”
“Then you should have come to the council, son,” one of the other councilors said. If my new nifty talent of recognizing auras served me correctly, it was the nephilim councilor. Councilor Torres. He was from a clan on the West Coast. Ethan told me what he knew about him on the way here. It wasn’t much. Typical nephilim stuff. Haughty, self important, stick-up-his-butt type stuff. He seemed okay at the moment, though. I didn’t doubt he probably had a soft spot for one of his own kind. Especially one whose aura appeared as powerful as Ethan’s.
“We did, sir,” Ethan said. “When we recognized that Andrew had a fixation, we spoke to Duncan. He agreed Andrew was out of line and promised to deal with him.”
Duncan nodded without hesitation at the council’s surprise. “It’s true. They told me all the details, and I went to speak with Andrew myself. It was obvious from the moment I arrived that Andrew was struggling with the fixation. I gave him a warning that he needed to leave the country for a few decades and remove himself from the temptation. I told him that if another complaint were filed, the council would be forced to take action. About a week later, the entire coven moved. I figured he took my advice.”
“He moved, all right,” I said when the council turned their frowns back to Ethan and me. “He just took Grace with him, and murdered the guy she was with at the time. You may have heard of him: Preston Layton? The future alpha of the D.C. werewolf pack?”
The werewolf councilor growled and shot to his feet. Councilor Sena was on hers as well, hissing at me. “What an outrageous lie!” she cried.
“The young one found mauled by a bear a few months back?” the wolf asked.
“The friend of ours we found mutilated in Grace’s backyard the night she disappeared,” I corrected. “Dig up his grave, if you don’t believe us. I’m sure you’ll be able to tell the difference between what those vamps did to him and a bear attack.”
“As if a bear could have taken down Preston anyway,” Ethan added. “Speak to the pack, if you must. They know it wasn’t a bear, but they don’t know the truth, so they let the humans call it what they wanted. Russ and I kept the truth from them because we didn’t want them to start a war with vampires.”
The council was silent for a minute, and then the wolf spoke without any hostility. “If that is the truth, then the council is grateful for your swift actions. But you still should have brought this matter to us when it happened.”
“There was no time,” Ethan said. “Andrew had Grace. It took us nearly ten days to track them down as it was, and we got there just in time. When we got there he’d been doing his best to…” Ethan’s voice faltered. “To claim her.”
Councilor Sena hissed again. “Andrew would never attempt to turn a girl against her will, especially not already having been warned by a guardian.”
Rage bubbled inside me as I remembered the sight of Grace when we found her. “He wasn’t trying to turn her. He was trying to rape her. He nearly killed her!”
Several people gasped. Dani clamped a hand over her mouth in horror.
“She put up quite a fight, but one girl against an entire coven of vampires? Hardly fair, is it? Ethan and I showed up, demanding for them to release her. They answered by trying to kill us. We fought back. It was self-defense.”
“How did you manage to slaughter an entire coven by yourselves?” Councilor Torres asked, sizing up Ethan. He sounded a lot more curious than I was comfortable with.
“We were better,” Ethan spat.
“It was surprisingly easy,” I added for Councilor Sena’s benefit. “Vamps are pretty weak, and Ethan and I are pretty awesome.”
Councilor Torres had to hold Councilor Sena back. I think she was planning to rip my head off. I couldn’t resist blowing her a kiss.
“Russ! Stop it!” Dani yelled. Good to know I could still annoy her.
“How did you avoid the Seer?” Councilor Mason asked. Unlike Torres, Mason was not interested in playing nice. “He should have been aware of such a massacre. What kind of black magic are you dabbling in that you could shield yourself from him?”
“Black magic?” I laughed. “That’s a bunch of bull cocky, and you know it. You’re well aware that my magic skills suck. You’re the ones who informed me of that fact. How could I possibly cloak us that way? I doubt there’s any magic on Earth that could do that. I have no idea why Gabe didn’t see it. He was probably too busy reading Shakespeare and making out with my ex-girlfriend.”
Ethan snorted and Dani scoffed. “Russ, you don’t have to be rude.”
No, I didn’t have to be rude. But I wanted to be. “How about you, Danielle?” I knew she couldn’t stand it when I used her full name. “You can’t ever keep your hands off the guy. You were probably a Seer at the time, too. How come you didn’t see it? You find a way to block me out of your mind entirely?”
Dani flinched, stung by my bitterness.
“Russ,” Gabe warned.
Even Ethan nudged me. “Chill, Russ.”
I took a deep breath, trying to get control of my temper, and looked at Mason. “I don’t know, all right? Blame all the evil stuff you want on my dad, but I’m not him. I didn’t do anything wrong. I never have. I was only trying to help a friend in trouble.”
“What friend?” Dani asked. “Where did you find friends? How do you know this guy? Where have you been?”
I understood her curiosity, but I didn’t want to answer her. I had a new life now, and I didn’t want her in it. She left me. It was hard enough knowing that she chose the council and her precious Gabe over me without having her in my life. “That’s none of your business.”
Dani’s jaw dropped. “None of my business? You’re my best friend!”
I couldn’t take it anymore. “Screw you! I’m not your best friend. I’m not your friend at all. You’re not a part of my life anymore.”
Dani’s anger deflated, and she shrunk into Gabe’s side. She swallowed thickly and asked in a tiny voice that plucked at my conscience, “How can you say that? How can you act like our relationship means nothing? How can you just not care anymore?”
Her hurt, and the guilt I felt for causing it, enraged me. “You think I don’t care? I wish I didn’t care, Dani. I try to stop caring about you every single day. You broke my heart. Do you get that? You ripped it out of my che
st and stomped on it until it was dust. You and Dad were all I had in the freaking world, and you both gave me up. I needed a clean break. I deserved a clean break.”
My entire body shook, and my chest was heaving. I didn’t realize just how much I’d lost it until Ethan grabbed my arm. He met my gaze with a look that promised I wasn’t alone. It brought me back to myself and made me remember that I did have a family now. It wasn’t my real family, but Ethan, his mom Leslie, Grace, Cynthia—hell, even Caleb—were my family now. Dani had chosen another life, but I had, too. I’d found a home.
When I glanced back, Dani was staring at me with watery eyes. I expected her to yell at me back and accuse me of ditching her, but instead she took a breath and tried to calm her temper. “You’re right,” she whispered. “You deserved to get away from me. You deserve to hate me.”
I did deserve that. And a part of me even believed I did. But for all that I hated her, I still loved her, too. When her eyes brimmed over, I wanted to walk over to her and wipe the tears from her cheeks. I couldn’t, though. It wasn’t my job to comfort her anymore; it was Gabe’s. And he did exactly that. He put his arm around her and tucked her into his side.
Dani melted against him. Watching her accept his comfort—need it—was torture. She clung to him, but her eyes never left me. “I know I hurt you, Russ, and I hate myself for it. I made an impossible choice because it had to be made. I know it won’t make you feel any better to know this, but it hurt me as much as it hurt you. Saying good-bye to you broke my heart, too. I’m incomplete without you.”
She glanced at Gabe and then looked around the table at all of the council members. They were completely caught up in our drama, watching Dani with curiosity, sympathy, and worry. I was surprised by their concern. They hadn’t seemed to give a crap about her feelings before when they’d kidnapped her and tortured her into compliance.
I was even more shocked when she smiled at them as if to reassure them. It was a sad, pained smile, but it was genuine. “I regret losing Russ,” she said to them. “I will always be heartbroken over that, but I made the right decision.” She looked at Gabe in a way that broke my heart all over again and added, “I’m where I belong.” She swallowed again and wiped the moisture from her face, then met my gaze. “I’m happy I got to see you again. I’m glad to know that you’re okay. I’m glad you’ve found new friends. You do deserve that. You deserve the best life possible.”
Now I was blinking at her the way she’d been gaping at me before. She was a completely different person. When did my Dani get reasonable, levelheaded, and…and…mature? Ugh. She was turning into Gabe. Vomit.
Gabe broke the silence. “Yes,” he said, flashing a proud smile at Dani. “I believe Russ deserves that as well.” He turned his big, pathetic eyes on me. “The council needs to discuss your situation in private before we reach a verdict, but do not worry. We are well aware of your character. We have not forgotten what you have done for the supernatural community as well as for Danielle. I have not forgotten what you have done for her and for me. I believe your story, and am also glad to see that you have found new friends.”
Stupid jerk sounded sincere and even concerned for me. I hate that about him. “In fact,” he continued, rising to his feet, “I would love to be introduced.”
Gabe let go of Dani and came around the table to stand in front of us. He smiled at Ethan and held out a hand. I stepped in his way before Ethan could take it. Gabe is a Seer. One shake of the hand, and he could get a nice, good look into Ethan’s future. “Nice try, dude. Ethan likes his privacy. He doesn’t need his future spilled to the council.”
Gabe’s eyes narrowed at me for a minute as he debated whether to say what was on his mind. It was clear he knew Ethan was different. I couldn’t tell how much he knew—if he knew Ethan wasn’t really nephilim, or if he could somehow tell who his dad was—but he definitely realized something was up. If the council found out the “Michael” listed as Ethan’s father on his medallion was the Archangel Michael, we were all screwed. Grace, more than anyone.
“Just drop it,” I said to Gabe in a low voice. “You owe me.”
Ethan gave me a questioning look that I shook off. Now was not the time to explain. Gabe watched us both for a minute longer, and then decided to let it go. “Very well. Still, we need to discuss this matter in private, so I hope you do not mind waiting in the white room just a short while. You both look tired. We will have someone bring in an extra cot so you can get some rest.”
“Sure,” I said with a hard laugh. “Off to jail for the two innocent guys, because the council doesn’t like us. I see the death of the Supreme High Councilor hasn’t changed the way things work around here. That’s a little disappointing.”
“Russ,” Dani said quietly. “It’s not like that. We just need to talk. Laws were broken. People died.”
“People like my friend. Preston was a good guy. He didn’t deserve what those vamps did to him. And Grace didn’t deserve any of the horror Andrew put her through. They were the bad guys. Not us.”
The room was silent for a few seconds, and then a shaky voice buzzed over the intercom. “Um,” a woman said nervously. “Excuse the interruption, Councilors, but there is a group of young people here who claim to be key witnesses in the De La Cote murders, and would like to defend the boys you’re questioning.”
No! They didn’t! They wouldn’t!
“You know better than to disrupt us for that, Rochelle,” Councilor Mason chided gently. “Invite them to have a seat, and we’ll see them when we’re finished here.”
“Um, I would Councilor, but I really, really think you need to see this.”
“Damn it!” Ethan hissed, confirming my suspicions.
“No freaking way would Grace and Cynthia be that stupid,” I whispered.
“Are you kidding?” Ethan actually laughed. “Grace? Not try to sacrifice herself to come to our rescue?”
“Well, tell her to leave. Use your mind thing. Tell her to get out of here right now. Tell her to go home and wait for us.”
“I did.”
“And?”
“And she said a bunch of words you’re not allowed to say anymore.”
When I kicked the chair in front of me, Councilor Mason cleared his throat and asked, “Would you care to explain?”
Startled, I looked up to see the entire council staring at me. “No.” Definitely not my best comeback, but I was a bit stressed.
Councilor Mason’s eyes narrowed. “What are you hiding, Russ?”
“Nothing.”
He saw right through my bull. With a sigh, he hit the button on the intercom. “Go ahead and send them in, Rochelle.”
Ethan and I lost it at the same time. Even cuffed, and me in restraints that prevented the use of magic, we managed to knock three guardians to the floor before we found guns pointed at our heads and had to stop.
“Russ!” Dani screamed. “What in the world is going on?”
I didn’t have to answer her, because at that exact moment, Grace, Cynthia, Caleb, and Clara were escorted into the conference room.
When Grace walked in the room, everything stopped. The only sound was that of Ethan and me trying to catch our breaths. After a collective gasp from the entire council, Cynthia was the first to speak. “Whoa. I know you said they were identical, but that is freaky.”
Dani and Grace stared at one another until Dani muttered, “The Ungifted One.”
Grace gasped and my eyes narrowed. How the heck did Dani know about Grace? What had she seen? She caught me looking at her and blushed.
“Damn it, Grace!” Ethan yelled, snapping Dani and me out of our staring match. “Why do you always have to be so stupid? Why can’t you just listen to me, for once in your life?”
“Listen to you?” she asked angrily. “You mean, let you and Russ go to jail for me? You’re the idiot!”
“What the crap, Caleb?” I asked, joining the fight. “You were supposed to keep your trap shut!”
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��Hey, don’t blame me. The evil geniuses had Clara spell it out of me.” Caleb scowled at the girls. “The three stooges here were planning to come on their own and threatened to bind me to my room if I tried to stop them. Would you rather I have let them come by themselves?”
Annoyed that Caleb not only had a decent excuse but did exactly what I would have done in his place, I groaned and turned my annoyance on Grace and Cynthia, who I knew were the masterminds behind this idiotic adventure. “You used magic against your own brother?” I accused Cyn, then shifted my glare to Grace. “Against your friend? That is low.”
Cynthia had the decency to look chagrined and cringed, but Grace was too fired up. “What choice did we have? I’m not going to let the two of you go to prison just to hide me. People are going to find out about me sooner or later. None of us have done anything wrong. He was trying to kill me. Why should I have to hide and make people suffer just to keep me secret? I killed Andrew, not you. You’re already wasting your life for me; I won’t let you wrongly go to jail for me, too.”
Grace was so mad; she was like a whole different person. She’d never looked more like Dani than in that moment. Ethan, Cynthia, Clara, and Caleb were all just as stunned by her outburst as I was.
“Well.” I punched Ethan’s shoulder once, unable to help the smile on my face. “You always did want her to grow a backbone.”
“Funny.” Ethan yanked on his hair. “Grace, you are seriously going to kill me one of these days.”
“Not if you kill me first,” she said, and then laughed, reverting back to her usual sweet self.
That’s when the six of us remembered we were standing in front of the entire council. Everyone in the room was watching our drama unfold like we were a bad daytime soap. They’d been too fascinated to interrupt our bickering.
Taking a page from her daddy’s handbook, Grace went all diplomatic. She squared her shoulders and smiled at every council member before letting her gaze rest on Dani. I grinned when her eyes got stuck on Dani’s hair for a moment. “I am so sorry for the rude interruption,” she said, “but if it’s all right, I’d like to explain everything.”