Hunted (The Guardian Legacy, #3)

by Ednah Walters

  Dante frowned and exchanged a glance with Kael, then they both shook their heads. “No, but we can find out,” Dante said. “You think your brother is hanging out with these demons?”

  “We think he summoned them,” Bran explained.

  Dante frowned. “Why would he do that?”

  This time Bran explained his theory about what happened to the humans. “We have no idea how two of them managed to survive. One is a woman with children, so we assumed the demons either felt sorry for her or decided to punish her by making all her children ill.”

  “Demons don’t show mercy,” Dante said.

  “Really?” Sykes asked, then he pressed a fist against his chest, imitating the gesture Dante and Kael often made whenever we met. “I always thought you two were the picture of gallantry.”

  Dante ignored him. “I have not heard of a demon capable of doing what you just described.”

  “What if the Tribe is a breed of demons from somewhere else?” I asked.

  Dante’s eyes narrowed. “The Tribe?”

  “We think that is their name—the Tribe. What if they were summoned from, say, Tartarus?”

  Telepathic communication between Dante and Kael happened so fast all I caught was ‘Summoners’ and ‘no way’, then silence.

  “If you know something, tell us, please,” I cut in, my eyes moving back and forth between the two nature-benders.

  Dante’s expression grew thoughtful as though he was debating how much to tell us. When he spoke, he did slowly. “It is possible to summon powerful beings into this world, but it’s never been done in my lifetime. It takes special circumstances to do it and the consequences are never pleasant. Hermonites and Guardians have a system in place that keeps the balance between good and evil. Bringing in more powerful beings could tip that balance, so summoning is very rare.”

  “Besides,” Kael added, “summoned demons don’t look anything like us. They come back with rotting flesh and stink.”

  I heard their words, but I focused on what they weren’t saying. “You know about the Tribe.”

  “We knew something was going after your humans and tried to get in touch with you last week, but whenever we responded to Guardian energies, we always found the senior Cardinals.” Dante’s glance swept us. “From the aggressive way they went after your humans, I think the Order might be involved.”

  “The Order?” Sykes asked.

  “The new Hermonite High Council,” Dante explained.

  “It’s made up of representatives from each house,” Kael added.

  Someone cursed. I reeled with shock. The demons had planned to select a new ruler during the mortal combat battle on Jarvis, but we’d foiled their plans when Bran won. Obviously the crafty demons had found a way to come together after all.

  “Who’s their leader?” Remy asked.

  “What makes you think they’re involved?” Bran asked at the same time.

  “We don’t know their leader because we’re out of the loop since…” Dante glanced at me then away. I had a feeling he meant to say since my father was defeated. “But the council has been holding secret meetings since the combat on Jarvis Island. Like clockwork, they met every Friday night until a week ago. Something happened to stop them from meeting. The day after, young Hermonites began to disappear from their homes. No one knows why. At the same time, your humans were being targeted. That kind of efficiency means a lot of demons working together under a single directive.”

  “The ones at the restaurant believed we were behind the kidnapping,” I said. “How do you know so much when you are out of the loop?”

  Dante shrugged.

  Bran chuckled. “You have someone on the inside.”

  Dante didn’t deny it, but neither did he admit it. Instead, he bowed toward me again. “We will contact you once we get more information on the Tribe and Mount Hermon.”

  “May I see, uh, your arm?” I asked before they could leave.

  Dante looked ready to argue, then he pulled back the sleeve of his coat. He had a nasty burn on his skin. Kael scowled.

  “Can you self-heal or do you have someone to heal it?” I asked.

  “I do. I’ll be in touch.” He bowed briefly.

  “What if I want to contact you?” I asked before he could teleport.

  He hesitated, his eyes narrowed. I was tempted to telepath him that I knew he and Kael had lied to us. They knew more than they’d told us about the Tribe, but with my crazy powers, I could hurt him worse than I already had.

  “Use your powers and we’ll find you,” he said then dematerialized.

  “Now that we have those two in our corner once again, let’s eat.” Sykes patted his stomach and started for the door.

  “I don’t know if they’re really ‘in our corner’ as you put it, Sykes,” I said. “They know more about the Tribe than they told us and what they know scares them.”

  Sykes groaned. “Damn. Now you’ve ruined my appetite.”

  - 9 -

  THE CONFERENCE

  Mrs. D was waiting for us when we arrived at HQ, her glasses dangling on the tip of her narrow nose.

  “Where have you been?” she demanded, eyes slitting like a cat’s. “We’ve been trying to contact you for hours. “Return your weapons and head straight to the conference room.”

  “What’s going on, Mrs. D?” Izzy asked.

  “Ask the Cardinals. Don’t keep them waiting,” she snapped.

  We looked at each other. No one spoke, but we were thinking the same thing—we were finally going to get some answers.

  Inside the conference room, the senior Cardinals sat at one end of the large circular table, their expressions unreadable. My grandfather, the Cardinal Psi Guardian, waved us toward the empty chairs. He wore his “leader of the Cardinals” face, not the indulgent, loving Grampa I saw around our house. Like the other Cardinals, he wasn’t dressed for hunting, which was strange. He studied me intently as though searching for something. I gave him a brief smile, which he didn’t return. Not a good sign.

  “How long have you had that headache, Lil?” he asked in a soft voice, though the vibes from him indicated he was angry.

  “Since the attack on the island.”

  “Yet you still left the valley?”

  Confused, I glanced at my friends. They wore bewildered expressions, too. “Master Haziel said it was okay.”

  “Is he also the one who said you could take the dagger instead of leaving it behind to be examined?” Grampa barked.

  “Yes. Didn’t he explain?”

  “He is not here to explain anything, but I’m sure he gave you a reasonable explanation for allowing all of you to leave the valley after an attack and with a dagger that is practically useless.” He pinned me with a glare.

  I made a face and glanced at the others. All the junior Cardinals looked down without speaking. Bran was the only one staring at Grampa as though he’d lost his mind. This wasn’t what we’d expected. I couldn’t tell them Master Haziel hadn’t approved of the way they’d kept the secret about the Tribe from us.

  “You have nothing to say? Could it be that the decision to leave the valley didn’t really come from Master Haziel?”

  “That is correct, Cardinal,” Bran said, leaning forward. “Master Haziel didn’t suggest it. I did, and he supported my decision. I thought seeing Mrs. Watts might trigger Lil’s memories, especially after some words we’d mentioned caused her to remember a few things.”

  “Did it?” Cardinal Seth asked sharply, speaking for the first time.

  Bran shook his head. “No, but we learned something else while in L.A. Demons visited Mrs. Watts, wiped her memories just like the ones that attacked us wiped Lil’s. Even though they also made all her children ill, we thought we might be dealing with the same demons.”

  The Cardinals didn’t look surprised, confirming our suspicions that they already knew about the attacks.

  “Why didn’t you come right back home once you realized the same demons were out t
here attacking humans?” Grampa asked.

  Bran’s eyes narrowed. “We had to confirm that the attack on Mrs. Watts wasn’t an isolated incident. You told us to always confirm things before bringing them to your attention, Cardinals.”

  Grampa’s eyes flashed. “That is beside the point. Lil had just been attacked, her memories wiped and she had no control over the Kris Dagger—”

  “She could handle herself, Cardinal,” Bran snapped.

  “You do not tell me what my granddaughter can or cannot handle.”

  Bran sat back, hands fisted.

  “You have no idea what’s at stake here,” Grampa continued, “the danger you put all of them in.”

  “That is not my fault, Cardinal,” Bran shot back. “She would not have been attacked if we’d known what we were dealing with in the first place, how to fight them and protect ourselves. She should have been prepared. We all should have been prepared.”

  “No one can be prepared—” Grampa paused then added, “Where did she go?”

  Until he asked the question, I hadn’t realized I had dematerialized. I hovered near the ceiling, so angry I wanted to zap them both. It hurt to watch them tear each other apart because of me. Worse, they were fighting over something they couldn’t change.

  Lil, Bran ordered, looking directly at where I hovered as though he could see me. Get back down now!

  Don’t talk to me in that tone.

  He sighed. Please.

  No. I refuse to sit there while you two continue with your stupid and senseless fight.

  “It is not senseless when you and your friends’ safety are at stake,” Grampa snapped.

  He heard me? Of course, he could. He was a powerful Psi. It’s not Bran’s fault, Grampa. He gave me a choice to either stay behind or go with them. I chose to go.

  “Where are you?” Grampa looked around the room, then he zeroed in on my location. “Since when can you control your movement in energized state?”

  Since the Tribe’s attack.

  “The Tribe?”

  The shock in his voice got me to return to my seat. Heads turned when I rematerialized but I ignored them and focused on Grampa. “Yes, the Tribe, Grampa, as in the demons who attacked us. We also know they were summoned by other demons you call the Summoners. We went searching for them.”

  Instead of surprise or anger, the feeling I got from the senior Cardinals was relief. Weird.

  “Permission to speak, Cardinals?” Remy asked.

  “You don’t have to ask permission, young man,” Cardinal Seth said sharply.

  “The decision to go after the Summoners was not Master Haziel’s or Bran’s, Cardinals,” Remy said, glancing at the seniors. “We all decided to go, so if you want to yell at someone, yell at all of us.”

  Sykes, Kim, and Izzy nodded.

  “Now can we just be honest with each other?” I asked. “Not knowing what we are dealing with is scary. Seeing what they can do is even scarier.”

  Grampa opened his mouth to interrupt.

  “Please, let me finish,” I added. I glanced around at the faces around the oval table before stopping with Cardinal Moira. She might be the quietest of the senior Cardinals, but she had a way of making them stop acting like a bunch of dictators and listen to our opinions. She nodded, an encouraging smile lifting the corners of her lips. “I got lucky because of the Kris Dagger. If they’d attacked one of my friends, the effect would have been worse. We are on the same team and shouldn’t keep secrets from each other. Oh, and Bran is right. Whatever is happening to me, the headache and the heightened powers, I can deal with them now that I know their cause.”

  “Their cause?” Grampa asked.

  “Master Haziel said that the powers of the Kris Dagger were transferred to me. He said it was the dagger’s way of protecting…” My voice trailed off when Grampa got up, an expression of utter horror on his face. “Me,” I finished.

  Cardinal Janelle gripped his arm and shook her head. She waited until Grampa sat down before she got up and moved to my side. “Show me your arms, Luminitsa.”

  I shrugged off the hunting trench coat and extended my arms. There were no writings on my skin. I glanced at Grampa to reassure him, but he was scowling so furiously. Aunt Janelle beckoned Cardinals Moira and Hsia, who pushed back their chairs and joined us.

  “Turn around,” Cardinal Janelle instructed.

  After my meeting with Master Haziel, I knew what was coming and balked at being examined in front of the others like a freak. No. Let’s do this at home, Aunt Janelle. Please.

  Cardinal Janelle glanced at her friends, then they nodded and we teleported.

  “Remove your top,” one of them said as soon as we arrived in my bedroom.

  My face hot, I pulled off my T-shirt and turned around. Someone touched my waist, then my middle and upper back. My embarrassment changed to puzzlement when cool air touched my neck as they lifted up my hair.

  “Are they there?” I asked, turning my head to study their faces since I couldn’t see anything.

  “Yes, from your lower back to the base of your skull. See?” Cardinal Hsia gave me a portable mirror and turned me so my back faced the larger one on the dresser.

  Markings dotted my back like tattoos, spreading along my waist, up my spine and disappearing under my hair. I lifted the hair out of the way. They actually looked pretty. Like some ritualistic markings I should be proud of instead of fear.

  “Here you go, love,” Cardinal Hsia said, handing me my T-shirt.

  Cardinal Moira cupped my face and studied me intently. As usual, her hands were hot. “Do they hurt or tingle?”

  “No, though I felt a slight tingle when they appeared on my hands.”

  She nodded. “That’s good. You will be able to know when you are about to use them and therefore will learn to control them. It’s not going to be easy, but you can do it.”

  “Master Haziel said the switch was temporary.”

  The Cardinals looked at each other again.

  “Of course,” Cardinal Janelle said. “Let’s go back. Your grandfather will want to know we’ve confirmed it.”

  “Why was he horrified when I said the powers had moved from the dagger to me?”

  The Cardinals exchanged glances again. I was beginning to hate their glances, especially since they weren’t accompanied by thoughts I could listen to.

  “Your grandfather loves you and worries when anyone, demon or otherwise, targets you,” Cardinal Janelle explained. “He’ll be fine once this mess with the Tribe is over.”

  Back in the conference room, my eyes sought Grampa’s as soon as we materialized. He looked like he’d aged a century. Something about having the powers of the Kris Dagger inside me bothered him.

  Master Haziel said it is only temporary, I telepathed him.

  He smiled, but his eyes were sad. Of course it is.

  “The marks appeared on her arms when someone tried to hurt her with an athame,” Remy said, answering a question from one of the Cardinals. “She touched the blade and it caught fire. They appeared on her arms again when we met with Dante. He couldn’t get close to her without feeling pain.”

  Cardinal Seth studied me thoughtfully. “So you reacted the way the Kris Dagger would react to a demonic energy.”

  I gave him a tiny smile. “Yes, but the power switch is only temporary. Master Haziel said so.”

  Cardinal Seth nodded, though I had a feeling he didn’t agree with me. His focus shifted to Remy. “Did her powers ebb with her headache?”

  Remy glanced at me. Do you want to tell him?

  No. I didn’t like the way they reacted whenever I insisted the power shift was temporary. Besides, Cardinal Seth often treated me like I was a child who needed to be told what to do. In my mood, I might make a snarky comment. I studied the other senior Cardinals instead. I couldn’t shed the feeling that they were operating at a different level from us. They were keeping secrets and only talking to us to get information. They hadn’t shared anything new.<
br />
  “We visited a few more humans, whose contracts we’d canceled months ago,” Remy said, answering another question. “Their stories were the same—they had no memories of ever seeing us and their fortunes were reversed. We don’t know how widespread it is.”

  “It is worldwide,” Cardinal Hsia said.

  “Anything else you’d like to add?” Cardinal Seth asked impatiently, focusing on us.

  “I think my brother might be one of the Summoners,” Bran said.

  “Why would you think that?” Grampa asked, not masking his shock.

  Bran explained his theory then added, “I’d like a chance to find him and talk to him.”

  “Not now,” Grampa said firmly.

  “Can you at least tell us about the Tribe and how to fight them?” Bran asked.

  “We’ve never dealt with them before, but Master Haziel suggested we find the demons who summoned them and reverse the summoning.” Cardinal Janelle glanced at the other Cardinals, who nodded, then she continued, her expression earnest. “We spent the last week searching for them. When we heard rumors about the humans getting hurt, we went to investigate. Hsia treated some, but the majority of them were beyond help. However, it was too soon to conclude that the demon you encountered on the island and the one hurting humans was one and the same.”

  “Since we didn’t meet any, we were beginning to doubt your account of what happened,” Cardinal Seth added.

  “After today, we believe you,” Grampa said. “We owe you an apology, because their reappearance today confirms they are here and we must stop them.”

  They are here and you must stop them… the words echoed in my head.

  “Say that again,” I said urgently.

  Grampa scowled. “Say what again?”

  I rubbed my temple as I tried to grasp the elusive memory. “I’ve heard the words ‘They are here and you must stop them’ before. But they were spoken by a woman. Why am I getting snippets of conversations I’d never heard before, or are they from my lost memories?”

  “Maybe your mind can provide us with some answers.” Grampa stood and Bran gave him his seat. “Lil, you know that when we mind-blend, psi energies tend to mix.”