“Dawn, what the hell are you doing here? You terrified us, we thought it was one of those Circle creeps or—” Dawn took another step forward, and the air turned to freezing mist in my lungs. Her face was paler that a winter's moon and a trickle of crimson blood ran down her throat, staining the front of her white sun dress like a rose in bloom.
My stare traveled along the blade pressed against her neck and up the thick arm holding it, freezing when it reached a leering face. Fergus leaned against the door frame and kicked the door open with his foot so that I could see Lara standing behind his shoulder. A sly smile spread across the width of his face. “Hello, darling. I told you we’d meet again.”
I could tell by the way Eve's jaw was set that she wanted to blast the smile off his face as much as I did, but we both stood as still as statues—terrified to put Dawn in greater danger. Fergus prodded Dawn with his knee, and she walked ahead of him with his blade still pressed to her throat. Lara strode by them into the center of the room, but she ground to a halt once she rounded the corner and saw Deirdre and my sleeping friends. Her eyes widened. “Fergus, it wasn’t the old hag who was helping them…”
Fergus dragged Dawn to Lara’s side, keeping one eye on Eve and me. He stared down at Deirdre hunched on the chair and began to chuckle. “Well, look what we have here, hey? Little Marie Antoinette and her living dolls.” He reached over with his free hand and stroked Deirdre’s round cheek. “What have you been getting up to, dumpling? Does Peter know about your little secret hideaway?”
Deirdre jerked her chin away defiantly, but her downcast stare spread the grin further across Fergus’s face. “This must be my lucky day, I thought I was going to find an interfering old bag down here meddling in the sewers, but instead I find you lovely ladies. So many possibilities...” He rolled back on his feet and cracked his neck. “What do you think I should do, Lady Deirdre? You were too high and mighty for me before, but it looks like the ball is in my court now, doesn’t it?”
He beckoned Lara with a nod of his head, and without lifting the blade, he shoved the knife and Dawn in her direction. Lara took over the role of captor without even a glance at the small girl. Her eyes narrowed as she watched Fergus approach Deirdre and circle her, running his fingers over her shoulders as he moved. I wanted to close my eyes so that I could reach out for Sam with my mind, but I was petrified, unable to look away from Dawn for even a second.
“So, what have you been getting up to down here, Deirdre? Or will I call you Dee-Dee? I like that. Has a ring.” Fergus began to massage Deirdre’s back, and she stiffened. He flipped her long hair to one side so that he could knead her bare neck. “I mean, this doesn’t look good, does it? We find you in a secret tunnel system under the city, with newly escaped prisoners, and two Shadow Children that were marked for execution by Peter himself. I can’t imagine how he’ll feel when he finds out the woman who shares his bed was the one who freed his precious Demon-Born.”
Fergus trailed his fingers over her shoulder and down the center of her chest until he reached her abdomen. His hands grabbed the two sides of her cloak and ripped it apart, exposing a swollen belly. Deirdre tried to pull the fabric over her stomach again, but Fergus snatched her two hands in his left fist and held them over her head, using his right palm to caress and fondle her bump.
Bile rose in my throat as I watched Deirdre squirm under his touch. I felt a scorching pain in my gut as I realized I had raised my hand to a pregnant woman. Fergus leaned over Deirdre to gain better access to her flesh, and her cheeks burned as his hand moved further down her abdomen.
“You’re a common beast, boy. Did your people send you to this world in exile? Were they so desperate to rid their realm of your filth that they chose the one place you could never escape from?” I flinched as Fergus whirled away from Deirdre to stare at Eve. His eyes flashed, and he reached out and pinched Dawn on the arm hard enough to bruise her flesh. Dawn bit down on her lips, refusing to cry out.
“Mind your mouth, or the child will be next after this pregnant whore, do you understand? I’ll save you for last so you can appreciate the show.” Fergus gave Dawn’s skin one last twist as he glared at Eve, then he turned his attention back to Deirdre. The black humor had drained from his face, leaving only viciousness. He pulled her hair at the roots. “What do you want to do, bitch? I can tell Peter that you freed the prisoners and see if he lets you live long enough to see your babe take its first breath after he cuts it from your belly, or we could blame it on the old hag—if we can come to an agreement between ourselves? Maybe you have something you can offer me for my silence?”
Deirdre’s chest rose and fell as she stared from Lydia and Frank to Dawn’s deathly pale face. Lara’s fingers trembled against Dawn’s throat, and I felt a mixture of disgust and pity for the girl as she watched the creature whose affection she clearly longed for ravaging the pregnant Angel with his eyes. Deirdre looked down at the ground without answering Fergus, and his face reddened in anger.
“I can help you decide if you like, you snobby cow. Give you a taster of what the Hounds will have in store for you once I tell Peter what you’ve been doing behind his back.” Fergus raised his booted foot and smashed it in the direction of Deirdre’s bump. My scream tore through the silence in the room, but before I could lift my hands to my mouth Fergus was lifted off his feet and sent smashing head first into the wall behind Deirdre’s back.
Jonah and Cat stood in the doorway, with Cain and Sam towering behind them like menacing shadows. Jonah kept his hand raised as he surveyed the scene, and I watched the blood drain from Cat’s face as she saw the blade Lara was pressing against Dawn’s windpipe. Fergus pulled himself onto his feet and glowered across the room at his fellow Demon. “You! I should have known you’d creep out from whatever rock you’ve been hiding under at some stage. Jonah, the hero. Well, you’re too late. We’ve got your little friend. If you lay another finger on me, Lara will slit her throat and feed her to the darkness.”
Cat’s pupils widened so that the sky blue was swallowed up by black and her pulse beat against the side of her throat. My mouth was so dry I felt my lips would crack when I opened my mouth to speak. “If you harm a child who possesses a Hidden Power, the Circle will crucify you.”
Fergus didn’t blink, but I saw Lara’s grip loosen on the handle of the blade. Fergus dug his fingers into Deirdre’s shoulder. “Make one of those pretty barriers you’re so famous for and contain these vermin until we can show the Circle the little rat run we’ve found.”
Deirdre’s brow creased, and she stared down at her hands as if they might hold all the answers. Fergus shook her arm. “Don’t let them suck you in. You think the Shadow Children want you back? They’ll lynch you. You betrayed them. You’re a traitor. You left Eve to rot in a cell for a year without telling your old friend Emmanuel—you think he’ll forgive that? And you know there’s no hope for the Shadow Shits, as soon as the Circle find the last Hidden Powers they’re going to make the Great Sacrifice, and the Shadow Children and any Angel who stands in their way will face the same fate as the Humans and the Halfbloods. If you want to stay alive for that baby—”
“Does your child deserve this life, Deirdre?” Eve’s voice was gentle, but the Angel shrank away from her as if the words were dripping with acid. “You’ve seen what the Circle do to children that don’t meet its needs. Are you willing to take that gamble with your child’s life? The Shadow Children are not monsters. Whatever your crimes, they will not make your child pay for them.”
Deirdre’s head fell forward onto her chest, and she squeezed her eyes shut. Fergus wrapped her hair around his fist and ripped her head backward so that she couldn’t escape his glare. “Make the bloody barrier, slut. You think the Shadow Children are so pure and forgiving? They’re foolish pawns. Stupid little bastards. They haven’t even realized there is a viper sitting in their midst, pretending to be their ally before it strikes. They can’t protect y
ou—they can’t even protect themselves. There is no place on this earth that you could hide that bastard child from the Circle, and if you run from me, I swear, I will hunt you down and let you watch as I break that child bones with my bare—”
Warm droplets of blood splashed across my face as two massive shards of ice flew from Deirdre’s hands and cut through Fergus and Lara’s necks. The sound of Lara’s blade clattering to the floor was followed by Dawn sprinting across the room and into her mother’s arms. A river of crimson crept across the ground in front of my feet, and for the second time that day, I found myself staring at a severed head.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Get back to the chamber.” Jonah’s tone was urgent as he directed Sam and Cain out the door with the sleeping bodies of Lydia and Frank flung over their shoulders. Cat wouldn’t even look at my face as I scurried into the corridor behind her. Anger radiated from her body like a halo of flames, and she pressed Dawn against her side as if she could attach her to her flesh with sheer physical force. I chewed on my thumb.
Eve gripped Deirdre’s wrist gently, but her eyes were sharp as she watched the Angel’s every move. Jonah sealed the door of the blood-soaked room shut with a spell, before ushering us down the passageway at a run. “The Circle hasn’t explored beneath the city in the two thousand years since it was built, too convinced of their invincibility to imagine they have enemies, but now that the tunnels have been breached by two separate parties, I have to assume they are no longer safe for use.”
Ozzie’s face flooded with relief as we ducked under the arch into the circular room. Anna released a slow breath and her head fell forward onto her chest. Jonah looked at Cat and Ozzie. “Can you hold the sleeping girl in the circle, while the Reaper and the Seeker return you to safety?”
Cat and Ozzie nodded, and Sam lowered Lydia gently into their waiting arms. Jonah pushed myself and Sam into the center of the room and got down on his hands and knees to clear the dirt from the floor at our feet.
Anna pulled at my arms as she placed my soiled backpack over my shoulders. She patted my cheek. “Jonah’s diary is still in your pack. You must read it, child, and be brave. I once held the fate of the world in my hands, but I was too weak. You are not.”
I opened my mouth to ask her a question but snapped it shut again when my voice abandoned me, swallowed by a hurricane of emotion. The old woman turned to look at me again as she left the room. “If you see my son again, break the glass and use it to cut his throat. I beg you, sweet child—set my baby free.”
Sam brushed his thumb against my cheeks to wipe away the hot tears as they coursed down my face, but it was a pointless exercise. The dam had been broken. Jonah didn’t need to ask us to step closer this time. I let Sam pull me into his arms, and I buried my face in his hard chest. Life beat against my flesh with the force of the past, the future, and the present in its fists.
I inhaled the scent of Sam’s skin as if it could numb my pain, and the world began to shimmer and spin as Sam’s energy connected with mine. Jonah’s voice was in my ear, and I prized my eyelids open to focus on his words. “Seeker, concentrate on the perfect place. A place where only a friend might look for you.”
A viper in their midst. I pushed the memory of Fergus’s words away and tried to focus on a safe place. Sam stared into my eyes, and we cast the golden net, feeling it flow over Cain and Frank, Cat and Lydia, Ozzie and Dawn, Eve and Deirdre. When we reached Jonah, he stepped away, pulling himself into the closest archway. “I cannot leave this place, children. Tell Niamh my heart still beats only for her—I have not forgotten my promise, but my part in this battle is here, within these city walls. I wish you luck. The world is in your hands. Read the book, Seeker. Open your eyes. We were wrong. The evil is not as it seemed.”
My stomach sank as he melted into the darkness and vanished from sight, but Sam wrapped his arms tighter around my waist and heat surged through my heart, overpowering the fear. I crushed my body against his, and the ground began to tremble under our feet as time and space gave way to our combined strength.
The room spun and twisted, and I felt the connection to every being in the net as we tumbled through space. My lips curved as I felt the flicker of life in Deirdre’s belly. A fresh sea spray hit my skin, and I opened my eyes to drink in the wild gray waves of the Atlantic crashing against the rocks at the base of the stone staircase. Eve twisted her body to face me. “Hidden Cottage? Why would you bring us here, Grace? Anyone could be living here by now.”
I reached out for her arm, glad that Sam didn’t remove his hands from my waist. “Trust me, Eve. This is the right place.”
Eve released her grasp on Deirdre’s wrist to embrace me, and in a flash, the Angel broke free and stumbled onto the road as if the hounds of hell were nipping at her feet. Sam bounded after her, but she had already created a barrier around herself. He raised his hands to strike the shield with his energy, but Eve threw herself in front of him and gripped his arms. “No, Samuel! The baby!”
Deirdre’s fingers danced as she plucked a slip open. Eve approached the edge of her shield. “Deirdre, don’t do this. If you return to the Circle, you are condemning your child to a life of pain.”
The skin around Deirdre’s lips tightened. “I know what they would do to my baby if they find us. I won’t let them have her. They will never take her from me.”
Eve turned her palm upward. “Then come with us, Deirdre. We need every fighter we can muster if we are to thwart the Circle, and the knowledge you’ve gained from living in the City could—”
“I can’t!” Deirdre’s cry cut through the air. “I can’t fight them. I can’t face him again. I’m sorry.” She twisted her head to meet Sam’s stare, and her lips trembled. “Truly, I am sorry.”
The slip tore open fully, and the sound of honking horns and busy streets hit my ears. Eve dipped her head and gave Deirdre a sad smile. Her purple cloak swirled in the breeze as Deirdre stepped through the slip. She paused before sealing it shut and stared at Eve. Her fingers hesitated. “Eve, there’s something you should know. The Circle, they lied to the mothers. The mothers like you—the ones they called the Keepers.”
I watched her lips move, but my mind couldn’t process the words over the roaring of my pulse. Eve stumbled backward, a hand pressed against her chest, and Cat ran to catch her in her arms. The slip vanished. Deirdre was gone, but her final words lingered in the air and wound their way over my frozen limbs.
The Circled lied. They never took your daughter—she was in your arms all along.
Chapter Thirty
I pressed my forehead against the cold glass of the window pane and watched as Cat spun and tumbled across the muddy grass. Her hair was plastered onto her cheeks, and rain ran in rivers down her back. She lashed her long whip against one of the overhanging branches with enough ferocity to rip it free from the trunk. The window pane in front of my face heaved against its frame but didn’t shatter.
I leaped back, almost colliding with Niamh. She crossed her arms and tilted her head in the direction of the cracked glass. “I see your sister is still working on her anger.”
We both watched as Cat sprinted the length of the garden behind Hidden Cottage and took a flying jump at one of the flowering bushes, decapitating the top row of blooms with a crack of her whip. Niamh raised both eyebrows. “Appearances truly can be deceiving. Your sister is quite the fighter.”
“She’s still angry with me for sneaking off into the tunnels yesterday. She thinks it was selfish—I should have known Dawn would try and follow me.” Niamh’s lips creased at the corner as Cat’s knife shot through the air and embedded itself deep into the bark of a gnarled Hawthorn tree. I released my breath and sank onto the window seat. “I thought she’d be less pissed after a night’s sleep, but that might have been a bit over-optimistic.”
Niamh nodded, crossing her arms. “Have you spoken to your mother this morning?”
I winced and stared back into the garden. My mot
her. I’d been yearning to use those words for as long as I could remember, but now there was a chance I could claim the right, they tasted bitter on my tongue, like they had been iced with layers of sadness and regret. A lifetime of unnecessary heartache.
Eve had spent the night in the bedroom healing Lydia and Frank, cleansing them of the spells, sedating Lydia when Frank couldn’t stop her screaming. When I brought breakfast for her and the patients, the silence had hung in the air between us like a wall. I chewed on my thumbnail. “There hasn’t been any time. She was helping Frank and Lydia, and then I was debriefing with you and Gabriel, and trying to stop Brandon from going to Switzerland to try and free Lucas and the others from jail with his bare hands.”
“That boy—he is a stubborn one. I hope he can calm his rage or we will be forced to exclude him from the retrieval mission.” Niamh pursed her lips.
I pushed my hair out of my face. “He just feels powerless. He hates that you and Gabriel protected him, while the Guardians arrested the rest of the cell.” Niamh opened her mouth, and I shook my head. “He knows why you did it, he gets that a Human would be more vulnerable in an Angelic prison than the others, but he still feels like crap. I can’t believe that after everything they saw that night on Grandfather Mountain, the Guardians turned around and captured the cell. Maybe Gabriel is wrong, maybe the High Council do know what the Elders are up to. Maybe all Angels want the Humans obliterated.”
The Demon-Born Trilogy: (Complete Paranormal Fantasy Series) Page 46