by LJ Swallow
"And the Collector won't let you close?" asks Heath.
"No."
"Have you spoken to him about Chaos? About what it means for the world?"
"Not yet. He would never speak to me, but Logan tried. The Collector refuses to speak to the other fae. He's tired of being badgered,” says Ripley.
"Plus an email, 'by the way did you know an Old God intends to destroy the world' probably wouldn't get much response either," puts in Breanna with a smile.
"So what do you want? For us and Vee to find this Chaos and kill him? Is this why you’ve created this ridiculous situation, thinking you have us trapped? And why Nova Pharm? Why are you connecting yourself to them?”
"Because Chaos is tracking me, and I wanted to bring him out into the open. So far, we have little idea who he is, but I involved myself in Nova Pharm and left clues. When somebody began digging around, and we realised it wasn’t you, we watched and waited."
“And?”
“Nothing concrete yet.”
I snort. "And did you kill the humans while looking for ‘something concrete’?"
"No, we think he did. This god is well hidden, and he can disguise himself as anyone or anything, undetected. But his nature prevents him keeping the chaos under wraps for long. We think he maintains a strict control over his daily human life, to cage his chaos if that make sense.”
“He also enjoys creating the chaos he represents,” puts in Logan. “Another of his downfalls but to our advantage because it slows his plans down.”
“Yes, he’s taking his time. Having fun. He’s left false trails for the Horsemen, leading them to us. Chaos built distrust amongst the fae and broke down alliances."
"And now you want us to ally with you?" I scoff a laugh. "No way."
"Are you listening? This god can devastate the world. He's already started. It’s insidious right now, as he corrupts the humans and their society better than I ever could. Next he'll start revealing to the humans the other races amongst them, and you can imagine the uh... chaos that will cause."
“We say ‘he’ but this god could equally disguise himself as a woman.” Logan raps his fingers on the table. “I’ve told Ripley we need to consider that possibility.”
I look at Heath whose confusion matches mine. Chaos. The word has appeared everywhere for us in the last few weeks, and hit around the same time Vee did.
"Are you going to tell us Vee is really Chaos?" I ask in a hoarse voice, "Because there's no way I can believe that. Yes, we're agents of chaos in some respects, but this is crazy."
"Oh no, we think you're the solution, or I wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Ripley says. “You can stop him. Or at least we hope you’re powerful enough together. We’re hoping somebody put Truth here to help with this, but we need to find out how."
I look to Heath for an answer, what to say, but he's staring into space. "You tricked us into coming here, didn't you?" he asks in a low voice.
"Tricked? No, we needed you to bring one of the humans we believe is connected to Chaos. We've had trouble watching Seth, thanks to you." Ripley leans forwards, elbows on the table. "Since he joined the Horsemen, we've been unable to study or track him or to find out what happened to his friends. Don’t you think it’s a coincidence that Seth's the only one alive from the group we were watching? The ones we didn’t kill, by the way.”
Yes. Fuck.
“We needed to have this conversation too, and I doubt an invitation to meet would’ve helped. Now you’ve brought Seth to us; we can persuade him to tell us what the hell he knows and who he’s working for. He’s not leaving until he does. Alive or dead."
Heath shakes his head. "No. No.”
I frown at my brother’s response. Isn’t he suspicious of Seth too? Hell, this is exactly what Ewan’s been saying all along. Seth is working with someone else. Seth is not who he says.
“I think you have this all wrong,” Heath continues. “Everything you've said about Chaos and how he operates, and how well hidden he is. It makes sense, Xander."
My heart rate skyrockets as Heath looks at me, and I already know what he’s about to say. "I think Seth is Chaos."
Ripley chuckles. "I don't think so. Chaos is too powerful to be contained in a human that weak. He’d need somebody stronger."
"How do you know that? If he's a god, surely he can be what he wants and do what he wants. You said he created the universe; disguising himself and hiding from us isn't a big deal," Heath replies.
I drag a hand through my hair. Powerful.
How fucking powerful?
Why the fuck didn't anybody pick up that Seth isn’t human?
"Heath. We need to find the others."
"And do what?" he replies.
"Make sure they're okay!" I snap. "If we're what stands between Seth... Chaos and his plans, I don't know what he's waiting for, but he could do something at any moment."
Heath silently stares ahead, massaging his temples. "This explains a lot, Xander. Seth’s been dividing us—and pushing us away from Vee. Who has he clashed with the most? Ewan. Ewan, the one of us we need closer to her right now. He's distracting us, and now I'm bloody sure Vee needs Ewan to complete her powers."
"Ah. Truth." Breanna leans forward and puts her head in her hands. "Now she is a conundrum. I have information about who you are, boys, but I'm stumped on who she is."
"What do you mean?"
"Ask your companion, Famine, how he is. He's starting to remember things, which is unusual. Someone is separating the veil between your current and past selves; I think we can all guess who." She rubs her mouth with a slender finger. "I know you all have moments when this happens, but it's happening quicker this time. This will screw you over and weaken you because it will fuck with your heads."
"Who are you?" I growl.
"You could call me a human resources manager."
"At Nova Pharm?" asks Heath.
"Please, we can get back to this later." Ripley scratches his cheek. "We need to know— will you join with us to end this threat. We can make it mutually beneficial?"
"How?"
"Well, first we can call a ceasefire and second, well, we all want a world to live in that's in one piece."
"Ha ha, you mean the world you want to bring your demon friends to conquer? Yeah... um, no."
"Are you listening?" Ripley's voice rises. "There will be no world for any of us! Isn't that the Horseman’s whole reason for being here? You will not be able to do this alone. Not quickly enough."
I stand. "We'll manage. This must be the reason Vee is here."
"Well, you don't seem to be managing very well so far."
Heath places an arm on my sleeve. "Maybe we should listen."
I blink at him in shock. "Are you serious?"
"If Seth is Chaos, he's played us for days. If he's undetectable in human form, how the hell are we supposed to find him if he gets away? Or what if he hurts Vee?"
"Shit." I stand. "We need to deal with Seth. We'll bring him here, and between us, we'll find out who the fuck he is. What he is. Heath?”
Heath stands, but his look is panicked. "I'm telling you. He's Chaos, and if he is and knows we've discovered this, I don't think we have any chance of bringing him to anybody."
I straighten my shoulders. "I'm willing to bet Vee can."
Ripley stands and straightens his shirtsleeves. "I bloody hope so, because if she's here to help him, and not us, then we are, to put it bluntly, fucked."
I rub a hand across my face, paralysed for a moment by the shock and confusion. What is the whole story here? Our greatest enemies hold some of the information we need, and we have the help they need. The world— supernatural and human—is threatened by something nobody fully understands.
I never imagined the chaos surrounding us since Vee arrived existed in reality, and I’ve never imagined I'd spend ten minutes in a room with demons and see everybody survive.
The world is more screwed than I thought.
Is V
ee here to help or is her arrival the beginning of the end?
To be continued
The series continues in The Four Horsemen: Descent which is available for pre-order now:
The Four Horseman: Descent
Please note: although the pre-order date states late March, I hope to release Descent in February. I like to add extra time for pre-order deadlines… just in case I miss them and upset Amazon!
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OTHER BOOKS BY LJ SWALLOW
The Four Horsemen Series
Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy
(Available Now)
Legacy
Bound
Hunted
Guardians
Chaos
Releasing Soon
(Pre-Order) Descent
Reckoning
The Soul Ties series
New Adult Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy
Fated Souls: A Prequel Novella
AMAZON US
AMAZON UK
Soul Ties
AMAZON US
AMAZON UK
Torn Souls
(Jack & Dahlia’s story)
AMAZON US
AMAZON UK
Shattered Souls
Releases 2018
Touched By The Dark
Paranormal romance/Urban fantasy
AMAZON US
AMAZON UK
www.ljswallow.com
LJ Swallow is the pen name for USA Today bestselling author Lisa Swallow… if you like contemporary romance then read on!
Books by Lisa Swallow
Like contemporary romance? I write those too!
What would you prefer to read?
British rock star romance?
Try broody Dylan…
Summer Sky
Or bad boy Jax…
Cadence
College romance at an English university?
Because of Lucy
Hollywood romance?
Unscripted
A gamer romance?
End Game
And More….
amazon.com/author/lisaswallow
About the Author
LJ Swallow is a USA Today bestselling paranormal romance and urban fantasy author who is the alter-ego of bestselling contemporary romance author Lisa Swallow.
Giving in to her dark side, LJ spends time creating worlds filled with supernatural creatures who don’t fit the norm, and heroines who are more likely to kick ass than sit on theirs.
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