Hunter: Faction 10: The Isa Fae Collection

by Angela Fristoe

  “A trade? Perhaps.” Garrett stepped toward him and, before the man could react, placed two fingers to his forehead.

  The force of the magic slammed the witch’s head back, and he stumbled in to the building. He caught himself on a table, shock and horror filling his eyes. With an anguished cry, he fell to his knees trembling as the last of the drugs left his system along with the desire to use them again. In the human world, the man would never have been really cured. Just in a constant state of recovery if he were ever able to drag himself free, much like the Fae and breeds who became addicted would be—though, for them, it would be near eternity.

  “Damara!” The witch scrambled to his feet and ran over to one of the breed women. He gathered her in his arms, cradling her as she groaned.

  Some might have felt sympathy for the man seeing his beloved in such a state, but Garrett was not one of those people. The witch deserved to spend his life seeing the consequences of his actions. It was the breed Garrett grieved for as she would not have such an easy life.

  “What do you want?” the man asked.

  “I’m looking for the witch Odessa. She’s with a breed; a woman with long dark hair.”

  The man shook his head. “Odessa hadn’t been around in weeks. And there’s been no new breeds on the street.”

  Considering how the witch managed to survive, Garrett figured he would know, and there was no reason for him to lie. His stake out had been a waste of time. He tipped his head toward the drugged breeds. “The Witches’ Coven can help ease their suffering.”

  “Not the Fae Council?”

  He shook his head. The Council was more than capable of providing the assistance, but they would be required to eliminate the witch who polluted the breeds’ bodies.

  Back on the street, Garrett contemplated what to do. He hadn’t seen a single indication that Odessa was in the den, and the witch said she wasn’t around. More than likely, the intel he'd received had either been corrupted or wrong.

  He was just about to call for another hired carriage when Anton Galani came strolling out of the building. Garrett sprung in to action, racing across the street and coming up alongside the man.

  “Moving on to your next target?” Garrett asked, causing Anton to look up at him, startled.

  “I suppose if I were in your shoes, I'd view me as the bad guy, but I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that it was you who broke the unity trust.” Anton kept up his brisk pace, though his shorter legs made it easy for Garrett to keep pace. “From my conversations with Sophie, I would have thought you'd be sympathetic to my goals of protecting the breeds.”

  “If I thought that was your goal, perhaps.” That was what his issue with Anton boiled down to. He didn’t trust Galani.

  “She said you'd be suspicious of me.”

  “It seems as though you and Sophie spoke a lot,” Garrett noted, and wondered how he had missed seeing them together.

  Anton gave a half smile. “You spent a lot of time away, and when you were there, Sophie wasn’t your priority. Otherwise, you might have noticed me long before I caught you and Thora in a lover’s spat.”

  Garrett clenched his fist, wanting to pound the smug look from the man’s face.

  “If you are so protective of the breeds, then you’ll be willing to help me find Sophie. Especially since you were responsible for having The Council turn her over to Odessa.”

  The smugness drained from Anton’s face, and for a moment, panic rested there before he quickly schooled his features, but it lasted long enough for Garrett to register.

  “I have no knowledge of Odessa or Sophie.”

  “It seems strange that you just happen to be visiting the same den where rumors placed Odessa.”

  “A strange coincidence yes, but simply that.” The earnestness in Anton’s voice sounded overdone giving evidence of his lie.

  “Of course. Well, if you happen to come across any information regarding their whereabouts, I'd appreciate if you sent word to me,” Garrett said, and pulled a card from his pocket with The Depository address on it. He handed it to Anton and waited for the witch to put it in his pocket. “Enjoy your day.”

  He turned and walked away, aware of Anton watching him. He rounded a corner then waited until his feet were compelled forward, drawn by the magnetic spell between it and the card he'd given Anton. A few blocks down, he found himself directly behind his target. Not wanting to be spotted, he hung back, partially concealed by a series of hired carriages lining the street.

  As if he suspected Garrett of tailing him, Anton kept glancing over his shoulder, but with the carriages and a thin concealment spell between them, Garrett stayed hidden. Finally, Anton turned up the stone pathway to a small bungalow. The door opened on his approach, and even across the street, Garrett noticed how Anton’s face lit up as he spoke to the person who had opened the door, gesturing down the street, possibly telling them of his run in with Garrett. But who? There'd been no mention of a mate in the file Marcella compiled on Anton.

  Garrett crouched down and moved to the next carriage, then carefully peeked through the narrow space between the two carriages. He couldn’t see the person’s face, but made out a feminine shape to the body.

  Then she stepped out, and Garrett stood upright in shock.

  “You may as well come in, Garrett,” Sophie called. She and Anton went inside the house, leaving the door open for him to follow.

  Confusion caused him to hesitate before he sprinted across the street and in to the house.

  It was a cluttered mess of old decorations. Not antiques, as these lacked any value other than to the owner, and considering the state most were in not even the owner cared for them. That Sophie would be there seemed so at odds with her tidy, no time for pleasantries nature.

  She led him in to the living room and motioned for him to sit on the couch but, instead, he made his way to the window. Fingering the curtains to the side, he glanced out saw the empty street, and then turned to look at her.

  “Why did you come here, Garrett?” Sophie asked.

  “To release you from Odessa’s ownership.”

  “You’re so predictable,” Sophie said with a sigh. “When we stood before The Council, I worried you might be willing to forsake your duty for Thora, and everything we planned would fall apart.”

  “So, you'd rather stay with Odessa?”

  “She’s not here. I’m free.”

  “So why hide? Why didn’t Anton just tell me you were here so I could see for myself that you were okay?”

  “Because you’re a hunter. He knows you would take me back to The Sanctuary, and that’s not somewhere I ever want to return to.”

  “I would never have forced you to return.”

  “We couldn’t risk it.”

  She looked at Anton, and he ran his fingers down her arm to her hand.

  That simple touch was all Garrett needed to see to understand Sophie’s true motivations. She and Anton were in love. Breed and witch. A unification combination that The Council would never approve of. With that new awareness, nausea swept through Garrett as he started to put the pieces together.

  “It was all a setup. The Council meeting, Odessa taking you. But why?”

  “Because I was tired of living the life forced on me. I was never going to be free, even if we had united it would have hung over us for eternity that we did so for one reason.” Anger reddened her face.

  “I would have helped you leave,” Garrett said. “You didn’t need to expose Thora to Amadeus and The Council.”

  “Except then they would have banished you from The Sanctuary,” Anton said. “Even your sister’s influence wouldn’t have helped when you faced charges of abduction, and then there would be no way for you to attend The Summit.”

  Garrett glared at Sophie. Her loose lips might have meant nothing to her, but he was the one risking his life to bring The Council down.

  “How many others know of my plans?”

  Sophie and Anton shared a look
that caused dread to settle in the pit of Garrett’s stomach.

  “Anton spoke to Grand Witch Helen.”

  Shit.

  “Garrett, I know you wanted to keep this a secret, but you’re deluding yourself if you think you and Darrian can do this yourself.” Sophie stepped forward, her eyes imploring. “They will not just let you stand and present your evidence. They will kill you before you get started, and it will all be explained away as an attempted coup by the Zannis family.”

  “The Witches’ Coven wants an end to the corruption of The Council as well. They just don’t have the concrete evidence you possess,” Anton said. “They’ll be in attendance, prepared to defend you.”

  It was an alliance Garrett had never considered. Perhaps because Fae and witch working together went against the norm in the faction. They were two distinct societies existing in the same space, and while inevitable interactions occurred, it was never intentional.

  To fulfill his oath, though, he would accept it.

  For the next few minutes, the three of them discussed The Summit and how best The Coven could assist. Garrett hadn’t realized how little confidence he'd had in his plan until he and Darrian weren’t alone in it anymore. He had been relying on his position at The Depository and in the Zannis family to give him a platform, yet it had been a naïve hope. With The Coven’s help, he wouldn’t have to depend on The Council respecting the rules of The Peace Treaty. The Coven would force them to.

  It wasn’t until he was preparing to leave that he remembered his purpose for being in the city. Find Odessa and free Sophie. He stopped in the doorway and looked back at Anton and Sophie. She was free, but where was Odessa?

  Had she been part of their plan at The Council meeting? Had she willingly freed Sophie? He dismissed that thought. Odessa did nothing out of the goodness of her heart. So what had been her involvement?

  “Odessa.”

  Just the sound of her name caused the two of them to pale.

  “Why did she release you?”

  It was a subtle movement, but Garrett noticed Anton tugging on Sophie’s hand, urging her to move behind him.

  “She would have wanted something in return. Something of equal value,” he said.

  “I had no choice.”

  Anton moved between him and Sophie.

  “No choice in what?”

  “A breed for a breed.”

  “You gave her a breed.” Disgust for the man fueled the anger in Garrett’s voice.

  “It was the only thing she would take.”

  “And where did you find this breed?”

  “At The Sanctuary.”

  Garrett’s fingers tensed, and bright red magic dust floated around his hands.

  Sophie yanked Anton out of the way and marched over to poke a finger in Garrett’s chest.

  “This was not all our fault. Anton just had to give the breed the map. It was up to her if she used it.”

  Names and faces of the female breeds at The Sanctuary flashed through his mind. Some he dismissed immediately like Rossa and Nylah. They were content in their lives and had no reason to want escape. Lorelle or any of the other women in the service wing, would have wanted to escape, but Anton would never have been able to gain access to them once his status as a witch was known.

  Sophie poked him again. “If you hadn’t been so faithfully devoted to some grand idea of being a savior for every breed and coming to rescue me, she never would have used the map.”

  Thora.

  Rage erupted in a loud roar and a violent flurry of sparks that shot from his hands and wrapped Sophie and Anton in a cloud of red mist. He lifted his hands, suspending them a foot above the ground.

  They hung there frozen, gasping for breath as the air constricted around them.

  “You gave her Thora?”

  “No!” Sophie denied. “All we had to do was get you to leave the grounds and then give Thora the map. That was all. We don’t even know if she left The Sanctuary.”

  “And Odessa? Where is she?”

  “We don’t know!”

  Garrett ignored Sophie, his gaze focused on Anton. “Where is Odessa?”

  “She’s at the Poirn Den.”

  The same den Garrett had been staking out.

  With a curse, Garrett released them from his hold, and they fell to the ground.

  “Pray to Tatiana’s soul star that she is unharmed, or I will be back, and you’ll wish for death.”

  He raced to one of the hired carriages and set off for the den. He didn’t bother with staking it out again. Instead, he went in through the side entrance, pausing to give his eyes time to adjust to the dim interior.

  Scanning the room, he saw no sign of Odessa. A breed woman sidled up to him, rubbing her partially bared breasts on his arm.

  “Looking for a recharge, baby?” She gazed at the center of his forehead with dead eyes that he remembered as a lively blue.

  “Kalia.”

  At the sound of her name, she drew back, refocusing her eyes. “Garrett. I…”

  “What are you doing here? I thought you were united with Madhavi’s son?”

  She gave a sharp laugh. “Horus is in his office. Why are you here?”

  “I have to find Odessa.”

  Kalia stared at him for a long moment then gripped his hand and dragged him behind a folding partition decorated with ornate images of mythical creatures from human legends.

  “She’s in the back room with Horus, my mate. He owns this place. She brought in a new breed today.”

  He started to move, but she stepped in front of him.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Find my mate.”

  Odessa had sealed her fate when she had Anton give Thora the map.

  “If you kill her, you’ll need to kill them both,” Kalia said. It wasn’t hard to hear the hope in her voice.

  “Killing a Council member’s son would find me little favor in their midst.”

  “Perhaps not, but who needs to favor of a fallen and disgraced Fae?”

  He'd been right to worry that Sophie’s loose lips would cause word to spread of his plans. If a breed living with Madhavi’s son knew, then there was little chance that The Council didn’t.

  Rather than answer her, Garrett scooted around her and down the hall toward the back room. He passed through the kitchen, aware of the breeds and witches watching him. One of them pointed to a closed door at the end of the hall.

  He threw the door open, and Odessa and Horus spun to face him. Before they could register who had interrupted them, Garrett waved his left arm in a wide horizontal circle in front of him, and his right arm went up and out toward them, pushing the magic at them. It hit the shield erected around them and bounced back a bit before advancing again, causing the shield to contract.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Horus demanded.

  “Where is my mate?”

  Horus shook his head.

  “I didn’t know you were united. If I did, I would never accept her for trade in my establishment. This is a service center where breeds are free to choose their patrons.”

  Disgust filled Garrett. Horus was the product of the faction’s corruption. He had no concept that his business was immoral, and perhaps he was even oblivious to the fact that the breeds servicing the patrons weren’t doing so by choice, but because of fear and force.

  “Where is Thora?”

  Odessa cackled, confident in the shield to protect her, and any patience Garrett had for the woman vanished.

  He crouched low, bracing himself with his hands on the ground, and bent his head forward. Concentrating, he gathered his magic into his core then pushed. Flames of orange, purple, and brilliant white shot up and then gathered into a swirling vortex that ripped apart the shield, catching Odessa and Horus in its path. They spun around until Garrett froze the magical whirlwind.

  “Where is she?” he repeated, coming to his feet.

  Odessa laughed. “Your magic can only hold us for so lon
g.”

  He twisted his fingers. The magic ripped through her, and she screamed until he relaxed the force. Then another stream of magic joined his, and he looked over his shoulder to see Kalia and a small group of breeds surrounded by the magical energy they were emitting that flowed in to his.

  “Tell him where she is,” Kalia said.

  Horus pleaded with his mate, but Kalia silenced him with a whip of her fingers that left a sickening crack echoing through the room. Odessa gasped.

  “The woods. She went in to the woods.”

  Chapter 17

  The blue shield created a suctioning force that sent Thora’s hair swirling around her as she passed through it. On the other side, her hair settled back down, and she looked around. Long grass covered the field before her, peppered with large boulders and a scattering of trees. To the right and left of the field were a series of other tunnel entrances, and, according to the map, each leading to various places in the faction.

  But it was what was at the end of the field that knotted her stomach.

  The woods.

  She'd never expected to see them again. Yet, the fear building in her did little to deter her, because what was behind her was worse than the unknown—a life forever tied to duty where love didn’t come first.

  Thora pulled the map from her pocket and noted the illuminated path to the Witches’ Coven. Anton had been right about it taking days to get there. If that were where she was going. She wanted to believe The Coven would help the breeds who went to them for help, but Garrett had made sure she understood not to trust witches or Fae.

  Thora was going to the one place where she'd felt safe. Home. Leaving the first time had marked the beginning of what she'd seen as her past. She'd thought The Sanctuary and even Garrett were her future. Now she was leaving that behind.

  Head tipped to the side, she gazed toward the woods as she prepared to let her past start again. That was when she noticed the silence—something she should have noticed earlier because nature was never that quiet by choice. Around her, nothing stirred. No birds in the sky. No wind rustling the tree leaves. She'd never given much thought to silence and how terrifying it could be.

  “You were supposed to take the tunnel to the south,” came a harsh voice.