Kaylan winced, but it didn’t surprise her. She’d suspected Ena would make a move against the Zegan family at some point.
“We need to go and see Cedric. The Order is going to be in a shambles now,” Sierra remarked.
“Wait.” Kaylan continued watching the live stream as the same shifter went for the High Lord’s son, Zorban.
She looked away then.
“People of Ormere. Do not be afraid,” Ena’s voice rang out. “Thanks to the Zegans, this city has descended into chaos and corruption. With your new leader of an end to all that. Here is Freya Avilion, the daughter of the last true High Lord, Edmund Avilion.”
More shifters jumped into the crowd, but it wasn’t members of the Order of Sorcerers they were attacking, it was some of the last remaining members of the Amaranthine.
Kaylan pushed the device away. “I’ve heard enough. I need to talk to my uncle. Right now,” she said. “You two go to the stadium and try to save whatever members of the Amaranthine that you can. Get them to one of our safe houses.”
All lingering need to see Elijah was pushed aside as Kaylan headed out to find her uncle. The streets were strangely quiet. Another look at the news revealed the stadium had since cleared out. The Glistans had got to work and were trying to regain order.
Freya, Ena and the remaining members of the Order of Sorcerers would have retreated back to the High Lord’s mansion. Kaylan only hoped Cedric wasn’t the one Freya had turned her misguided sense of revenge on. She spotted a few people running into their homes, no doubt afraid of the strange new creatures Ena had created that would chase after them.
She had to talk to Cedric. As leader of the Amaranthine, he’d know what to do next. Despite not being on the best terms for the past year, she knew they had put their differences aside and start working together again. None of their past animosity mattered now.
Kaylan jogged up the steps to his house, placing her palm on the security scanner. To her relief, it beeped and allowed her entry into a long hallway with green jaded wallpaper and a gleaming honey-coloured oak floor. No sound came from inside the house.
“Uncle?” Kaylan called. “It’s me. Uncle Cedric?”
Although their last encounter hadn’t been pleasant, she hoped they could put their differences aside now. They would need to work together to stop for Freya and Ena. She pushed the door to the living room open and spotted the growing pool of red forming on the white tiled floor.
“Uncle,” she gasped when she spotted him, lying slumped next to an overstuffed armchair. Gashes covered his covered his face and torso. “No!” She fell to her knees beside him. “Cedric?”
He blinked up at her, his once sharp green eyes now dull and glassy. “Kay…” he rasped.
“I’m so sorry. I had no idea Freya was involved in all this.” Kaylan clutched his hand. “I don’t understand why she’d want revenge after all this time.”
“Freya always – wanted it.” Cedric struggled to get the words out. “Ena – using her.”
“I know. Ena says she wants the Amaranthine Chronicles. Where is it?”
“Edmund hid it. Kaylan – listen. Don’t – abandon our mission. It’s our job to protect the city. We…” Blood gurgled from his throat as he took his last breath.
Kaylan closed her eyes as she felt his hand go limp in hers. “I will,” she whispered. She sat, rocking back and forth.
They had never seen eye-to-eye on everything, but she still cared for him deeply. Why would Freya kill him? She’d never thought her sister would go this far. Cedric had doted on Freya when they had grown up and given her everything she wanted.
“Kaylan?”
She looked up to see Elijah lurking in the doorway. Wiping away her tears, she sniffed. “I thought you ran away.” She didn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice.
Elijah went over and knelt beside her. “I’m sorry. I – it doesn’t matter,” he said. “Who did this?”
Kaylan didn’t know whether he was apologising for leaving or for her loss. It didn’t matter. “Freya must have known he was the first person we'd would come to for help. What are we going to do?” she asked. “We can’t call the Glistans, not now…”
“I’ll call Geth and we’ll take care of it. It’s not the first time we’ve had to do this.”
“I sent him and Sierra to the stadium to round up any surviving members of the Amaranthine.”
He shook his head. “They’re already dead, Kaylan. I caught a news stream just before I sensed your pain and came over here. I don’t think there’s anyone left but us, Geth and Sierra.”
She flinched. There was barely more than a handful of Amaranthine agents to begin within. After the revolution ten years earlier and the corruption within the Order had expanded throughout the city, no one had dared risk joining their ranks anymore. Losing Cedric was hard enough, though the thought of people she had once considered her family being gone felt too much to bear. Kaylan knew she didn’t have time for grief. Not right now. Aside from Freya, she was the only Avilion left who could help save their city now.
She looked up at Elijah. Same short, curly brown hair, same brown eyes and dimples that showed when he smiled. Yet he’d changed in so many ways since he’d been turned into a shifter. As much as she still loved him, she wondered if she still knew him.
Elijah took her hand and led her into the kitchen. Rays of bright sunlight streamed through the windows, as if there were no bloodshed or chaos happening throughout the city. He took out a bottle of whiskey from one cupboard and poured her a glass.
It burned Kaylan’s throat as she gulped it down. She’d never liked a drink, but felt grateful for it now. “Why is Ena – or Freya doing this?” she muttered. “It can’t just be about revenge. There’s more to it than that.”
To her surprise, Elijah hugged her. She clung to him for a moment, feeling the familiar comfort in his arms. She’d forgotten what it felt like to be held, to be loved like this.
“For Freya, I think it is about revenge,” he mused. “Ena – that’s hard to tell. I don’t think it’s just about the book either.”
Geth came and Kaylan retreated to her uncle's study. From the murmur of conversation, she heard between them, she knew that he and Sierra hadn’t been able to save anyone. She’d seen enough death in her thirty years of life. Some of it of those she loved. So what now? Part of her wanted to curl up, retreat into her grief, but another part of her knew she couldn’t just hide away. Cedric would want her to fight. She knew she had to stop both Freya and Ena.
Picking up Cedric’s pocket watch, Kaylan saw the symbol of the amaranth flower engraved on it. The symbol of their group. Seeing that gave her a much-needed feeling that there was still hope.
Freya’s first move would be to go after those she knew would side against her. That was exactly what Kaylan would do herself. Putting down the watch, she grasped a small opaque crystal from the desk that looked like a paperweight. Closing her eyes, she let it take her in.
Flinging her senses out like a net, Kaylan scanned for traces of the remaining members of the Amaranthine. There was a slim chance some of them might have escaped or have been stationed outside of the city. Light flashed past her until she saw only darkness. What did that mean? Were they already dead? No, perhaps Cedric had sent them to ground. He had protocols in place for something like this. But deep down she knew the truth, there was no one else left to help them. Opening her eyes, she let the crystal drop onto the table. They were on their own now.
Tucking Cedric’s watch into the pocket of her jeans, she took a deep breath and headed back to the living room. Grief would have to wait for another time. Now she had work to do.
Cedric’s body had gone and all traces of it had vanished. Geth was good at making things disappear.
Geth and Elijah stood in the kitchen talking in low voices.
“We’re on our own,” she told them. “The rest of the Amaranthine are gone. Maybe some of them escaped, but…” She shook her head. “We
can’t stay here or at my house. Ena will send people looking for us there. We’ll need to find somewhere else to make a new base. Somewhere where they can’t easily track us.”
Geth held up his porta-crystal. “We just watched a news stream. Ena has a warrant out for enemies of the city. That includes holos of all of us and Elijah. She is on the warpath,” he said. “We need a new safe house and fast.”
“The Amaranthine safe houses would be compromised,” Elijah remarked. “We could go underground instead.”
Kaylan shook her head. “What if the other shifters track you there?” she asked. “I think I know somewhere that might be safe for us. Let’s gather all the supplies we can, split up and get moving.”
She gave one last look at the living room. She could almost see Cedric standing there with his glass of whiskey, talking to other members of their organisation. The image made her smile sadly. She couldn’t bring him back, but she could damn well get justice for his murder.
Just because he was gone didn’t mean the Amaranthine wouldn’t live on.
Chapter 3
Elijah glanced around the sparse penthouse. Huge windows looked out on the looming landscape of spires and towers of steel and stone. Sunlight glanced off each spire, making them dazzle like a thousand diamonds across the city skyline. The view looked breathtaking, but his inner beast felt jittery at being so far off the ground. Kaylan would love a place like this. Her flying ability complemented her love of heights.
Yet the penthouse itself had only whitewashed walls and contained nothing but a couple of boxes stacked in the living room. The rest of the house contained three bedrooms and two bathrooms. It didn’t have a lived-in feel about it, and that added to Elijah’s uneasiness. He missed being somewhere that truly felt like a home.
“Are you sure this place is untraceable?” he asked as he put down a pile of boxes containing healing supplies and tinned food.
“Positive. I bought it in cash and used a fake name,” Kaylan answered. “It became a sanctuary after you – went away. I never told anyone about it.”
He felt a sharp pang of guilt. He hadn’t wanted to leave, but it had to be done. How many more times did he have to apologise for that? The familiar awkwardness had returned between them, and he hated that. It had never been that way between them before, everything had used to feel so natural. He only hoped they could find their way back to each other and be that way again.
“It’s warded so they can’t trace us here.” Kaylan put down her bag. “Elijah, we need to talk.”
Elijah looked away. “I know.” He’d known this had been coming, she’d want to know what he’d done to her. Despite his shame at having bound her too him, part of him didn’t regret it at all.
“Good, then…” Kaylan was cut off as Sierra and Geth came in grumbling at each other.
Elijah silently breathed a sigh of relief. He wanted to avoid this conversation for as long as possible, unsure of how Kaylan would react. Would she be angry? Upset? Happy?
“There are Glistans patrolling all over the city,” Sierra told them. “We’ll have to permanently glamour ourselves now.”
“What’s our next move?” asked Geth. “Hide out here until the Order implodes?”
That’s a good question, Elijah mused. Yet now it would be harder for him to roam around the city without Glistans or other shifters coming after him. He’d liked it better when he’d thought he was the only shifter out there. He’d never had to worry about other beasts like him coming after him or his friends.
“No, it’s time to get back to work,” Kaylan replied.
Although Elijah understood Kaylan’s desire to get back to work as a member of the Amaranthine and put a stop to whatever Ena was planning, he didn’t think breaking into the High Lord’s mansion was a good idea.
They’d waited until the cover of nightfall before approaching the enormous house. It stood in the semi-darkness, black and foreboding with only a few cracks of light seeping through the windows on the first floor.
“Are you sure we should be here, again?” he asked Kaylan through the communication device attached to their ears. “Maybe we should try to find some allies – people who are still loyal to the Amaranthine who might be able to help us.”
“Who? There’s no one left, and even if they were willing to help, I have no doubt Freya has spies everywhere. Just because she didn’t join the Amaranthine like we did doesn’t mean Cedric didn’t teach her about our ways,” Kaylan replied. “She isn’t stupid. She’ll probably know what we’ll do even before we do.”
Geth and Sierra went off to patrol the city and make sure that the rogue shifters didn’t harm anyone.
“We need to find out what Ena is planning. Her lab has to be around here somewhere and she and Freya will be off celebrating with the rest of the remaining Order members.” Kaylan swooped down by the back door and landed beside him.
“I’m surprised you let me come with you,” he admitted.
She met his gaze then. “Just because you don’t want to tell me about what you did to save me doesn’t mean we’re not still partners,” she replied.
Elijah glanced at the back door. “I don’t think this is the best way in. Too many wards or chances of being seen.”
Kaylan grinned. “Roof again?”
He nodded. There was a pop of muscle and the crack of bone as he shifted into his wolf form. She picked him up with a grunt as she kicked off from the ground. It didn’t take them long to unlock the window into the attic and climb inside. Elijah shook himself to get the dust out of his fur as she opened the door and headed down the stairwell.
He kept his senses on alert as they moved, listening for any nearby heartbeats.
Can you sniff out the lab? Kaylan asked. It would save us a lot of time.
Elijah cocked his head to one side as he pondered her question. He’d tracked people before in this form and in theory, he could track places too, although he’d never tried. He sniffed the air again, taking in the unfamiliar scents around him. He smelt the night air, smoke wafting from one of the fireplaces and Kaylan’s familiar scent of jasmine. As enticing as she was, he knew he had to focus on the task at hand.
More scents came to him as he padded down the hallway. Elijah closed his eyes, letting his senses travel further. With a prick of his ears, all the sounds of the house became clear. The groan and creak of wood, the winding whistling down the chimney stacks, then an unfamiliar sound of someone sobbing. Strange, that wasn't something he hadn’t expected to hear. He’d been sure Ena and Freya would keep their torture away from here, but perhaps not.
I think I found something, he told Kaylan and took off.
“Elijah, wait!” she hissed, but he’d already bounded off down the hall.
Portraits of the Zegan family lined the gold filigree walls as he ran down the corridor and down a set of stairs that led below the house. Tunnels, a cellar and other rooms weren’t the only things that lay beneath the old mansion. Walking down a passage way, Elijah saw nothing but old red brickwork, and the smell of dust made him sneeze. As he moved on he spotted two steel doors on either side of the passage. The faint stench of chemicals filled the air; he knew he was on the right track now.
Both doors were locked by control panels. He rose on his hind legs, raked his claws through the first one and the door buzzed open. Inside equipment droned, and code that made no sense to him flashed across the enormous screen that filled one side of the wall. Strange, this place seemed oddly familiar. As if he’d been there before. A flash of being hooked up to one of those machines and his body being torn from the inside out raced through his mind. It made him shudder.
There’s nothing in here, he told Kaylan as the sound of someone sobbing came again. Let’s move onto the next room.
Kaylan’s footsteps echoed behind Elijah as she hurried after him. The sound of crying grew louder but was only audible to his ears. The beast in him sensed something. Kin, it told him.
Kin? he wondered, brow crea
sing. What does that mean?
If more shifters meant to hurt Kaylan, he’d tear them apart. A doorway sat at the end of the narrow walkway. Reinforced steel. Elijah got up on his hind legs, but saw no sign of a handle.
Kaylan, breathing hard, appeared beside him and examined the wall. “I can’t see anything.”
Elijah looked again, using his beast’s heightened senses. His vision flashed amber as he stared at the door, harder. A control panel appeared on the wall. He motioned to Kaylan.
“Now I wish we’d brought Sierra with us.”
He raked his paw through the panel, his claws ripping it from the wall. Sparks flew out yet he heard no sound of any alarms as the door buzzed open. Inside, bright glaring white lights blinded them as they walked in.
Elijah blinked. Lab equipment filled the centre of the room. Machines hummed and droned, bubbles whirled through tubes filling the air with a faint scent of chemicals. He sniffed but couldn’t make out what they were and considered destroying it. Whatever Ena was brewing couldn’t be good, but that wasn’t why they’d come here.
On the far side of the lab sat five cages. A blonde haired woman dressed in a ripped blue floral dress sat huddled in one of them, while a man wearing only boxers lay unconscious in the cage beside it.
Kaylan gasped as she blinked through the glare and the whimpering turned into a howl. She went to the cage. “Hold on, I’ll get you out.”
Kaylan, wait. They’re been turned. He smelt the distinctive scent of shifters on them and his beast confirmed it. Stay back.
Memories of the first time he’d changed, being full of blood lust, pain and rage came flooding back. He knew the pain these people were going through and remembered it all too well. The first change could be the most dangerous time. The beast inside his mind demanded he help them. Kin, it told him again.
No, that wasn’t true. Kaylan, Geth and Sierra were his family. Not these people who’d been forced to become like him. But that didn’t mean he didn’t pity them. There wasn’t much they could do to help them. Almost every person he’d watched Ena turn had soon suffered an agonising death.
The Amaranthine Chronicles Complete Series: Betrayed By Blood, Dark Revenge, The Final Battle Page 8