Taken (Ava Delaney #4)

by Claire Farrell

  “Thanks for the warning.”

  She rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Sorry, I just… I need to figure this out without everyone hearing about it. I don’t want Illeana’s name turned to mud if she happened to do something a little… shady. I owe her that much.” Illeana had died to save her, and the pain in Esther’s eyes at the memory was heart-wrenching.

  When the song ended, the siren beckoned us over to sit in the corner. She was only slightly less fascinating since she had stopped singing. I caught Gabe’s eyes on me and turned away. No way was I inviting conversation with him.

  “I’m Callista,” the siren said in a huskily deep voice. She reached out to shake my hand, but Esther stayed my hand with a firm shake of her head. Callista drew back with a careless shrug.

  The siren had to send away a couple of admirers before we could talk. I still wasn’t sure why I was there. Callista didn’t seem so certain either because she kept glancing at me curiously.

  “Can I even trust you?” she asked Esther.

  “Illeana saved my life. I’m not going to do anything that harms her memory or her name. I can promise you that. I just need to know what was going on.”

  Callista leaned forward. “I knew the job would kill her. She knew it, too. She was working two sides. At some stage, they would collide, and she would be stuck in the middle.”

  Esther covered her mouth, her eyes widening with horror.

  “It’s not what you think. She was investigating something internal. Something within the Council, or maybe just the Guardians. She didn’t tell me much, for my own safety, and I can’t understand most of the paperwork.”

  “Do you know anything? Anything about what she was trying to do?” Esther asked. Being a Guardian was everything to her. She had to believe in the Council to do that job. If something was going on… she might not get through it.

  Callista glanced from me to Esther and back again. “What about her? Can I trust her?”

  “She’s not loyal to the Council,” Esther said. “And I trust her.”

  Callista looked away for a few minutes, watching people sway on the dance floor. Her singing had left a sultry atmosphere, and she smiled as she observed the effect. “So easy to make them happy,” she murmured. “My sister told me that she was trying to find whoever’s in charge of the slave markets, and she felt as though she might die because of it. She prepared for her death. We live a long time, but she was ready to die.”

  “Who was she working for?” Esther asked.

  I was on the edge of my seat, waiting to hear more.

  Callista pursed her lips and let out a soft sigh. “I wish I knew. She wasn’t alone. But she didn’t trust anyone. She was so paranoid by the end.” She turned to me. “You’re the one, aren’t you? The one who killed that beast.”

  I inclined my head slightly, unsure if I should confirm or deny.

  “Thank you.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “Her spirit can rest.”

  “I want her paperwork,” Esther insisted. “All of it. I can figure out what she was trying to do, maybe keep going with it, so it wasn’t for nothing.”

  “Leave it be.” Callista took a long swallow of her drink. “If the beast didn’t kill her, this would have. At least the way my sister talked.” She slammed her glass on the table and leaned forward. “I hear talk. Talk of change and disruption. I think I might get out of here while I still have the chance. If you were smart, you’d do the same. But I’ll send you my sister’s things. Do what you will, but know that none of my sisters will appreciate a blackening of our family name.” She made her way out of the bar, hips swaying. All eyes were on her.

  Esther stared after her, chewing on a badly bitten thumb nail. She glanced at me. “What do you think?”

  I shrugged. “She could be wrong.”

  “Or Illeana was working on something she didn’t feel she could trust me with. Why?”

  How was I supposed to answer that one? “Well, Aiden’s your brother, and he’s—”

  “I got this job because I’m good at it, not because of my brother,” she snapped.

  I held up my hands. “I was going to say that he would have to report everything to someone higher up. Maybe she didn’t trust whoever that might be. Maybe she didn’t want to get you into trouble. Maybe this really was something dangerous. If you didn’t know who to trust, who would you tell?”

  I didn’t tell her that I was on essentially the same mission as Illeana. I didn’t tell her how strange I thought that was. We could have worked together and gotten things done a little quicker. Unless I was on a dead-end mission that Gabe already knew would lead to nowhere.

  “What are you going to do?” I asked before I could let my temper get the better of me.

  She drummed her fingers on the table, then nodded. “I’m going to figure out what she was doing and try to finish off the job when I get back.”

  “Get back?”

  “The Council are sending an entourage to check on the situation in England. They’re a little nervous about more beasts turning up. Not that you’d catch them admitting it. Anyway, they’re sending rookie Guardians, so I volunteered.”

  A shiver ran through me. “Be careful over there, but… could you check in on them for me?”

  “Who?”

  “The twins. Remember?” I showed her my wrist. “Apparently, this is going to keep happening until I help them escape. If you could just let them know I’m still trying, but that it’s harder than I thought.”

  She held onto my wrist for a couple of seconds, staring at the scarred skin. “You help me, and I’ll help you. I’ll go through the paperwork and see if there’s anyone you can talk to, someone with information on whatever it was Illeana was really up to. I’ll go visit those twins and see if I can get them on a flight home with me.”

  “That might be dangerous, Esther.”

  “Yeah? Likewise. But you’ll still do it, won’t you?”

  I grinned. “Too right I will.”

  She turned her head slightly, the corners of her eyes crinkling with worry. “Uh oh. Here comes the big boss man. Wonder who he wants.”

  We both watched as Gabe made his way across the dance floor. He stood out amongst the dancers, allowing his inner light to glow around him. A beautiful man with dead eyes.

  When he reached our table, he nodded at Esther. “I hear your brother isn’t happy about your next assignment.”

  She snorted. “He doesn’t own me. Thankfully. Seemed stupid to send a gang of newbies across the water when I could lead them.”

  “Is that what you’re looking for? Another promotion?”

  She glared at him. “I’m trying to do my job. We can’t afford to lose any more Guardians.”

  “Then you should go and prepare yourself. I need to speak to your partner in crime here.”

  I covered my groan with a cough.

  Esther hesitated, then stood to leave. “I’ll call you, Ava.”

  Gabe sat across from me, and I had the eeriest feeling I was about to be grounded. The longer the silence, the more I twisted in my seat, feeling the need to run. His dark brown eyes held my gaze, but there was no emotion there, only a blank mask. He was the epitome of attractive—tall, broad, dark, great features—but it was a shell that hid his true face.

  “You know what I’m going to ask you.”

  I threw a glance heavenward, wishing he would find his way back up there. Our priorities tended to settle on different issues, making our working “relationship” difficult. My main concern was the slave market, while his was Eddie Brogan. The Féinics and possible rebel cause were the unclear wisps in the background, the thing neither of us quite believed in.

  “I don’t have any news,” I responded.

  “None at all?”

  “Nothing that would interest you. Except, why did you have Illeana running around doing the same things as me? Why not have us work together?” He covered his surprise well, but I caught it anyway. “You didn’t? So who did?”r />
  His gaze fell over the bar. “That’s what I’d like to know. Any other insights?”

  “Eddie’s getting pally with that witch consultant. Other than that, nothing has actually happened in the five minutes since you last asked me for an update.”

  “Don’t exaggerate, child.”

  “That might have a little more impact if you weren’t vain enough to portray yourself as a hot young man while you said it.”

  He frowned.

  I couldn’t resist the temptation to push him further. “Any updates on the formula yet?”

  The corner of his mouth twisted into a crooked smile. “Touché. No, there haven’t been any updates. The candidate is still alive. Safe and well.”

  “Still in the cells, you mean.”

  He shrugged. “The heart still beats.”

  “And what about the other candidate? The one that went missing? Gideon come up with the goods yet?”

  “He claims it’s a false rumour, that there was only one candidate other than Becca. Talk of another was merely a mistake made by one of the Guardians. Of course, they’re dead now, so we can’t exactly clarify it.”

  “Convenient. A lot like the way he got off scot-free after everything he did.” I glared at Gabe, still annoyed by the fact that the vampire Gideon had managed to avoid his own trial, all because he had helped out during the Becca fiasco. As if he hadn’t been the one to unleash her on the world. As if he hadn’t used the vampire formula to create a monster. And it wasn’t as though he actually helped get rid of her.

  “Not everything is in my hands,” he said, but he looked pretty pissed at the reminder.

  “Can I go, or do you have any other orders for me?”

  He pinched my wrist, right on the burn, until I squirmed from the pain. “What did you promise them?” he hissed through clenched teeth.

  “Safe passage. I don’t plan on standing by and watching slavery happen.” I wriggled out of his reach. “I’m doing what you should be doing.”

  “As long as you stay alive long enough to repay the favours you owe me, too.”

  He let me go and allowed me to storm out as if I had stood up to him. I hadn’t. We both knew I said what he let me say and did what he let me do. Of everyone, he really did own me because he held my life in his hands. He also held other lives in his hands. He had made it clear more than once that he would happily send me back to the cells if I didn’t do his bidding.

  One day, I would be free, too. That was the deal I made with myself.

  Chapter Four

  Two nights later, I ordered some Chinese takeaway and tidied up a little before the others came over. Esther had gotten the information she needed from Callista, and she wanted to come up with a plan with Peter and Carl. She couldn’t turn to her own people; she had to keep secrets, and we were the secret keepers of late.

  She arrived first with two cardboard boxes full of stuff and dumped them in the corner of my living room. “Food first. I could eat a horse.”

  “I really hope you don’t know anyone who can shift into a horse,” I teased.

  She laughed, and I realised it was the first laugh I’d heard from her in a while.

  “How are you doing?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “Keeping on. I might as well be a trainee Guardian lately.”

  I handed her a tray of noodles. “How do you mean?”

  “It’s like they don’t trust me now. They haven’t demoted me, but my Circle’s still down two members, we’re not getting any of the meaty assignments, and even my own brother can’t look me in the eye. I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “I shouldn’t be unloading like this. I’m just frustrated.”

  I bit my lip. Where was Carl when I needed him? “Maybe Aiden’s trying to go easy on you, to make sure you’re okay.” Her over-protective, shifter-alpha, Council-consultant of a big brother hated my guts, but I couldn’t deny that he cared about Esther.

  “I’m already okay,” she insisted. “Look, let’s just eat and go through the stuff Callista gave me.”

  I opened my mouth to try again, but Carl and Peter arrived and took over the conversation. After we ate, we went through the boxes together. They were filled with scribbled notes, mostly coded, along with photographs, newspaper articles, maps, and some books that seemed eerily familiar. Only when Carl lifted one did I remember that the exact copy was in Eddie’s shop. Or had been once. The book was the one Carl had hidden from me, as it contained information about the more negative aspects of my tainted nephal heritage.

  “Sell that recently?” I asked Carl.

  “I didn’t. But I haven’t seen it lately. I’ll check the inventory on Monday and make sure.”

  “Good. If Eddie sold it to her, then he might have found out why she wanted it.” I was certain of that. He hadn’t wanted me looking at the book without his permission, so I highly doubted he had sold it willingly, unless he knew he was getting something out of it.

  “Why would she tell that man anything if she couldn’t tell her own Circle?” Esther asked.

  “You don’t understand. He can get the truth out of anyone.” I knew that better than anybody else.

  Esther shook her head. “We were like sisters. A Circle is a family. Nobody gets left behind.” Her chin trembled. “I should have been left behind.”

  Carl squeezed Esther’s hand, a gesture of comfort that hadn’t even occurred to me. I had no idea how to help people, even though I felt their emotions more than I should. What use was empathy if I didn’t even recognize how to make the pain go away?

  “Illeana made a choice,” Carl said firmly. “Don’t try to take that away from her. She did what she did because she considered you family. You have to see that. What Ava meant was that Eddie uses magic against people. He makes them talk, and they don’t even realise they’re doing it.”

  She leaned against him for half a second while I sat frozen with awkwardness. Peter was still rummaging amongst the paperwork, apparently oblivious.

  Esther picked up another piece of paper. “This looks like a phone number. I’ll add it to the list.”

  The list was any kind of random numbers or letterings that we thought might mean something. We spent the next few minutes trying to come up with ideas of how to break the codes.

  “Maybe Callista would have some idea. Some clue,” I said, stretching. My back was killing me from hunching over scraps of paper.

  Peter’s glass dropped to the floor, where it cracked into jagged edged chunks. He lifted a piece of paper, his hands trembling visibly. “This… this is it. That night. That… thing. This is it.”

  He thrust the paper toward me, and I saw it was a sketch of a creature, a monstrous-looking thing with scaled skin. If it had been in colour, it would probably have been green.

  “This is the thing that took your son?” I asked. It didn’t look real.

  Esther snatched the page out of my hands. “I’ve never seen anything like this before, Peter.”

  “But someone else did. Someone else saw what I saw, because I sure as hell didn’t draw that. She had to have spoken to someone. Maybe someone who knew something.” Then his voice faltered. “You said she was going after the slave markets. My son… was taken to the slave markets.” He looked at me, aghast. “This is what he was talking about when he said my son went to hell.”

  “No,” I said. “He was bullshitting us, Peter. He had to be.”

  “He’s a slave,” Peter whispered.

  “We don’t know that,” Esther said. “We don’t know what this means. I mean, you’re human. His mother’s family was human. What would they want with him?”

  Most of the instances of the market that I had heard about involved half-blooded children. Part human, part… something else. But there were others, like Eloise. She had been human, a special human, but still, just human. So human children had been taken, too. What was different about Peter’s son? Could he be alive? Could he be trapped somewhere, tortured and abused? Could he have become as evil as t
he things that had taken him?

  Peter left, and I couldn’t stop him. He was in his own space, guarded against everything else in the world. That hand-drawn image had gotten under his skin, pulling out memories he would have as soon locked away for eternity.

  Carl and Esther quickly sorted through the rest of the stuff, but I couldn’t concentrate, so I focused on cleaning up the mess Peter had made and comforting myself with numbers. I had to come up with something, and soon. Illeana had gotten further than I did. But how? Who had she found to talk to her? How had she known where to look?

  “So she has to have some kind of informant or contact or something, right?” I said out of the blue, startling the others.

  “That picture might not mean a thing,” Esther said.

  “You saw Peter’s face. It meant something. It’s the ‘what’ that I’m worried about. Do you think she came across someone else who had seen what Peter saw? Or someone who works with them? Someone playing both sides?”

  Esther shrugged. “There are a lot of stories here about kidnappings and such. Maybe she tracked down the survivors.”

  “Maybe,” I said, disturbed by how let down I felt.

  Carl pointed at the article in Esther’s hands. “There’s a name on the back there.”

  Esther turned over the page. “Another one for the list. But maybe it’s important. I’ll try to check out some of the names of the victims on the system back at Headquarters, see if there are any connections to supernaturals. It’s a long shot, but it’s worth a try.”

  “Exactly how high-tech are these headquarters of yours?” Carl asked with a great deal of interest.

  She grinned. “Not very, but Aiden’s been working on overhauling the plain old magic with some good old hacking. He set up a system, but it’ll be years before it’s finished, so the records aren’t complete. I mean, they have to put millennia of info into the database.”

  “Will anyone pick up on the searches?” Carl asked.

  “I don’t know. But there’s a human guy working there that’s kind of sweet on me. I could probably persuade him to cover my tracks. Maybe he could even help with the other stuff, like the numbers we can’t figure out. He’s super smart, and Aiden said he’s pretty much changed everything for the better over there, so he should have a handle on secrecy. Actually, they found him when he hacked into the original system. They were going to kill him, but Aiden figured he needed him on his team instead. He’s shy, but I think I could flirt my way into his good books.”